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Entrepreneurship: Definitions, opportunities, challenges, and future directions

Corresponding Author

Vanessa Ratten

• [email protected]
• orcid.org/0000-0002-2534-4550

Department of Management and Marketing, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

Correspondence

Department of Management and Marketing, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

Email: [email protected]

Entrepreneurship as a field of study has many sub-dimensions due to its usefulness in society, which makes it difficult to gain a holistic understanding of its key elements. The aim of this article is to explore how to define entrepreneurship by focusing on different areas of entrepreneurship in terms of definitions and research opportunities in order to challenge conventional practices. Each area of entrepreneurship is discussed with the goal of exploring new research questions and methodological approaches that are currently lacking in the entrepreneurship discourse and can be refined through future research activity. This enables future research directions to be identified regarding entrepreneurship in general and specific types of entrepreneurship thereby contributing to research and practice about the importance of entrepreneurship in society.

1 INTRODUCTION

Entrepreneurship is a significant topic in business management research but also impacts other fields such as science, the arts, and engineering (Kirzner, 2009 ). It is a field of study that has been legitimized by the volume of articles and books on the topic (Apostolopoulos et al., 2021 ). In most conceptualizations of entrepreneurship, it involves creating value thereby having a positive effect in society (Jones et al., 2020 ). Although for many depending on their position in society entrepreneurship can have a detrimental and consequently negative effect (Ratten, 2019 ). Entrepreneurship has received a large amount of attention in the technology and tourism area but less so in areas such as sport (Ratten 2021 ; Jones et al., 2020 ). Accordingly, it is important to focus on new areas of research related to entrepreneurship that have not yet been fully explored (Kuhn and Galloway, 2015 ; Ratten 2014 ). This will enable entrepreneurship to be contextualized and further stimulate research (Ratten 2016 ).

the identification of business-related opportunities through a process of using existing, new or a recombination of resources in an innovative and creative way

The rules of the environment in terms of regulation effects business creation (Rashid and Ratten, 2021 ). Moreover, the macro-culture that includes institutional frameworks influences the ability of entrepreneurs. Thus, entrepreneurs based on their human capital will integrate as best they can into the market environment. Within the business environment there is a mix of public and private entities that influence market activity (Ratten, 2020a ). An entrepreneur may know how best to establish their business idea based on their connections within the market (Ratten, 2020b ). Thus, there is a personal dimension to the process of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs may have common characteristics such as determination and resilience that help them in the market (Ratten, 2021 ). In addition, being proactive and having a need to achieve can help entrepreneurs (Ratten and Jones, 2021 ).

The importance of entrepreneurship in society has become increasingly relevant in the post COVID-19 environment. Even before the pandemic began interest in entrepreneurship was increasing due to its relevance (Solomon and Mathias, 2020 ; Zhou, 2004 ). Despite the popularity of entrepreneurship there is still an ongoing debate about what it really means (Ratten and Usmanij, 2021 ). This is due to the word ‘entrepreneurship’ meaning different things depending on the context (Ratten et al, 2017 ). For many entrepreneurship is similar to innovation but involves a business venture. For others it refers to a mindset or way of behaving (Solomon and Mathias, 2020 ). Due to the multiple ways, entrepreneurship can be interpreted the current literature on entrepreneurship lacks a key article that explores its definitions in terms of opportunities, challenges, and future research. This article does this as a way of unifying what is currently being said about entrepreneurship and explaining how it should or can be discussed in an academic and practical setting.

The contributions of this paper center around contributing to a better understanding of entrepreneurship. Through a systematization of the entrepreneurship literature, the current and future knowledge structure of the field is identified. This will help in assessing the gaps in the field through acknowledging key trends.

2 ENTREPRENEURIAL CHANGES

Entrepreneurship as a word conveys different meanings depending on the situation. For many it is associated with small business although this has changed with the realization there is more to entrepreneurship. Fu et al ( 2019 :1) state “entrepreneurship and its derivatives have influenced all industries and levels of society, because it deals with innovation, competitiveness, productivity, wealth generation and job creation.” Things have significantly changed in the last decade as a result of technological innovations (Ratten, 2019 ). The way people communicate through online devices has altered society. Some things are still the same though in terms of people wanting to act in an entrepreneurial manner. This includes proactive business behavior regarding implementing changes. The ultimate outcome of entrepreneurship varies over time with new technological based ventures tending to have a greater immediate effect than long-term more incremental innovations The internet and digital technology revolution changed the way entrepreneurship was defined. Due to new types of business models entering the marketplace such as born global and start-ups the role of entrepreneurship in society altered. As a consequence, entrepreneurship was defined in a more holistic manner taking into account individual, corporate as well as social forms of new business activity.

Initially most people viewed entrepreneurship as the result of individual rather than collective effort. This was due to the myth of the hero entrepreneur who took on the world and won. Entrepreneurs were stereotyped as being solo business owners that started then developed their business idea. This normally meant growing their business from a small local endeavor to a global phenomenon. In the past the steps to growth for an entrepreneur normally meant establishing their business via a store or factory then explaining it gradually to other states and countries. The advent of the internet and electronic commerce changed this as it became easier to sell products to overseas markets. Many entrepreneurs are still sole owner managers of their business ventures.

The exact nature of entrepreneurship can be hard to capture through traditional measurement instruments (Ratten, 2014 ). This is due to it occurring in different and unusual ways. Surveys conducted on entrepreneurship topics rely on people recalling their experience but with time this might be hard to do. Interviews are likewise based on past experiences and there are few research studies focusing on the now in terms of immediate effects. This may change with artificial intelligence and real-time tracking changing the way researchers measure phenomenon.

The term entrepreneurship can be used at different levels of analysis. At the individual level it refers to how people become entrepreneurs. This means the emphasis is on personal characteristics and what environmental or birth factors influence entrepreneurial activity. The research on individual entrepreneurs has mostly focused on developed country entrepreneurs although there is more emphasis now on emerging and developing country entrepreneurs. At the societal level entrepreneurship involves explaining social change caused by new business ventures. Increasingly due to an emphasis on environmental and sustainability issues, entrepreneurship is needing to have a societal effect. This means focusing on for profit activity as well as non-profit or philanthropy. At the firm level entrepreneurship involves studying enterprise behavior.

3 TYPES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

There are many different types of entrepreneurship with some more popular than others. Table  1 states the definitions of different types of entrepreneurship in terms of their meanings. This helps to provide an overview of what each kind of entrepreneurship involves and how it is different to other types of entrepreneurship (Ratten, 2016 ). The main types of entrepreneurship will now be discussed in terms of their definition and application to the business environment.

3.1 Artisan entrepreneurship

Artisan entrepreneurship involves the use of artistic abilities to produce new products and services. Normally this refers to some kind of home-made or handicraft that is distinctive in its design. Thus, the artisan entrepreneur makes each product in a unique way that differs to others. Examples of artisan entrepreneurs can include craft brewers, pottery makers, and jewelry designers. Base of the pyramid entrepreneurship focuses on innovative business activities for people living on low wages. Sometimes this is referred to as subsistence entrepreneurship or necessity entrepreneurship due to people making use of what they have in order to obtain an income. Nevertheless base of the pyramid entrepreneurship can still yield good business results when done in a financially efficient way. This means the entrepreneur is disadvantaged in some way that influences their ability to make an income. Corporate entrepreneurship involves business ventures that involve large-sized organizations. Usually this refers to businesses with more than 100 employees but it can vary depending on the context. Due to the popularity of large businesses in the media many types of entrepreneurship involve corporations. Thus, this type of entrepreneurship has been extensively studied in the literature but due to the changing nature of business based on digital technology and hybrid working forms, there is new research being produced all the time on this topic.

3.2 COVID-19 entrepreneurship

COVID-19 entrepreneurship is a new kind of entrepreneurship that specifically refers to new business activity and innovation that occurred during or because of the COVID-19 crisis. This includes any kind of change that resulted from the alterations in living and working conditions. Much is still yet to be known about how and why the COVID-19 pandemic influenced entrepreneurial behavior but it is an interesting area of study. Craft entrepreneurship involves business activity that involves the hands or use of handheld instruments to make something. It refers to knitting, sewing, woodwork, metalwork, and other kind of activity that is intricate and takes individual attention. It is an older form of entrepreneurship that has evolved over time with the introduction of new materials and technology. The idea of craft entrepreneurship is that it does not involve mass-made products that are the same but rather acknowledges the individualization and personalization of the craft industry.

3.3 Creative entrepreneurship

Creative entrepreneurship refers to the arts and entertainment industry types of innovative business activity. This means the emphasis is on doing something outside the box and not typical to what currently exists in the marketplace. Increasingly creative entrepreneurs are spurring inventions in other areas of society. Cultural entrepreneurship is similar in some ways to creative entrepreneurship but focuses on traditions and heritage. Thereby emphasizing the need to continue local folklore and customs in business products and services. Developing country entrepreneurship involves innovative and risk-taking business activity within countries that are growing but still at a lower level of income level than developed countries. Typically, this involves subsistence entrepreneurship but it can also involve high-technology forms of entrepreneurship.

3.4 Digital entrepreneurship

Digital entrepreneurship evolved from the usage of digital technologies in the marketplace. In recent years mobile commerce usage has increased due to social and physical distancing requirements from the COVID-19 pandemic (Cimperman, 2023 ). At the same time, increased digitalization rates have made it easier for new startups to develop. Digital entrepreneurship is defined as “the process of entrepreneurial creation of digital value through the use of various socio-technical digital enablers to support effective acquisition, processing, distribution, and consumption of digital information” (Sahut, Iandoli and Teulon, 2021 :1162). Entrepreneurship is changing due to new technology such as big data, analytics, social media, and crowdfunding altering business practices. This is resulting in new forms of entrepreneurship such as digital entrepreneurship arising that recognize new ways of doing business. Digital entrepreneurship recognizes that existing businesses are being transformed through digital capabilities (Gupta and Bamel, 2023 ).

Digital technologies such as mobile and cloud solutions are enabling improved business practices. Increased digital capabilities are enabling ecosystem environments to thrive. Digital ecosystems are defined as “a self-organizing, scaleable and sustainable system composed of heterogeneous digital entities and their interrelations focusing on interactions among entities to increase system utility, gain benefits and promote information sharing, inner and inter-cooperation and system innovation” (Li et al, 2012 :119).

3.5 Education entrepreneurship

Education entrepreneurship involves analyzing business activity related to learning and knowledge dissemination (Liao et al, 2022 ). It is a popular area of entrepreneurship study that combines looking into pedagogy with information acquisition techniques. Increasingly there has been more emphasis in society in general on entrepreneurship education due to its impact on regional and international development levels (Mandrinos and Lim, 2023 ). Emerging economy entrepreneurship focuses on analyzing entrepreneurship in economic environments that are growing. Normally this means there is a change in living and social conditions, which is paving the way for new kinds of business ventures to emerge.

3.6 Entrepreneurial ecosystems

Entrepreneurial ecosystems involve environments that are conducive to entrepreneurial behavior and action. There has been an increased interest in entrepreneurial ecosystems due to the realization that entrepreneurship often requires the input of diverse entities in society. An entrepreneurial ecosystem normally has a range of players such as businesses, individuals, government entities, and others that make it function. Within an ecosystem environment there are power dynamics that influence how and why entities collaborate or compete. This normally means an ecosystem adjusts to behavior in terms of entrepreneurial activity.

3.7 Environmental entrepreneurship

Environmental entrepreneurship refers to innovative business activity that relates to the environment. Often this can be combined with other types of entrepreneurship such as technological and sport depending on the situation. Environmental entrepreneurship is similar to sustainable entrepreneurship but focuses more on conducting business activities that have an environmental benefit. This means they are helping to make the world a better place by emphasizing the positive ways businesses can contribute to society.

3.8 Ethnic entrepreneurship

Ethnic entrepreneurship involves understanding how people of different cultures become entrepreneurs. This is an interesting area of study as it includes study of religion, location and other factors related to ethnicity and business ventures. Family entrepreneurship involves understanding how others with a deep bond to an individual help in their entrepreneurial endeavors. The definition of family is constantly evolving based on societal views, so a broad perspective is often taken in entrepreneurship studies. Although much of the emphasis is on a person's biological family or family through marriage.

3.9 Female entrepreneurship

Female entrepreneurship seeks to understand how females because of their biology develop entrepreneurial ventures (Hossain et al, 2023 ). Due to changing women's changing position in the workforce there has been more emphasis on female entrepreneurship and gender equality (Jaim, 2021 ). Whilst female or women's entrepreneurship is now a key part of overall entrepreneurship studies there is still a need to research further into gender differences. This is due to changing workplace policy and impact on the number of females going into entrepreneurial activities. This can include either as a startup entrepreneur or being part of an organization's overall entrepreneurial ventures.

3.10 Fitness entrepreneurship

Fitness entrepreneurship could be considered part of sport entrepreneurship but is a type of entrepreneurship in its own right. This means it is useful in understanding the role of fitness in new business ventures that have become popular with the digital economy. Digital technology especially mobile applications, websites, and blogs have paved the way for more emphasis on fitness entrepreneurship as a specific type of entrepreneurship. This is due to the increased interest in lifestyle entrepreneurship and the resulting increased interest in activities such as yoga in society.

3.11 Frugal entrepreneurship

Frugal entrepreneurship involves thinking about innovative business ventures that are conducted using scarce resources. Sometimes this is also referred to as jugaard innovation in terms of using available materials in times of resource scarcity. Gender entrepreneurship highlights the way gender may or may not influence innovative business activity. This idea behind gender entrepreneurship is that biology in terms of how people live and behave influences business dealings.

3.12 Government entrepreneurship

Government entrepreneurship can also be linked to political or public entrepreneurship. This means focusing on how policy and regulations influence the development of entrepreneurial business ventures (Islam, 2023 ). Sometimes government entrepreneurship is referred to as public entrepreneurship due to the emphasis of local councils and other regulators on entrepreneurship. Government entrepreneurship tends to have a non-profit or community motive but can be for-profit.

3.13 Health entrepreneurship

Health entrepreneurship has become a popular area of study due to the COVID-19 pandemic requiring new business thinking (Mishra and Pandey, 2023 ). This means thinking about how health related businesses such as new startups and related technology develops (Oliveira et al, 2023 ). More emphasis is being placed on how health entrepreneurship relates to other types of entrepreneurship such as social or educational entrepreneurship. This is due to the way health entrepreneurship often depends on research and investment from other sectors of society.

3.14 Heritage entrepreneurship

Heritage entrepreneurship seeks to understand how heritage in terms of history and culture affects innovative business ventures. This is important in understanding how location and place influence entrepreneurial intentions in a community (Knezovic, 2023 ). Immigrant or refugee entrepreneurship involves focusing on people who are living outside their country of birth in terms of their business activity. This can also involve transnational entrepreneurs who reside between countries.

3.15 International entrepreneurship

International entrepreneurship involves innovative business activity that takes place outside an entrepreneurs home country. It is a popular form of entrepreneurship due to its emphasis on born globals which are companies that are international from the start. Lesbian, queer, bisexual, and transexual entrepreneurship involves business activity based on sexuality. It recognizes that humans might have certain behavioral traits that influence the type of business activity they are involved in.

3.16 Minority entrepreneurship

Minority entrepreneurship is sometimes referred to as disadvantaged entrepreneurship as it involves a select percentage of the overall population. This means the entrepreneurs have unique characteristics that can be based on physical, intellectual, or cultural differences. Music entrepreneurship involves business activity that has a music dimension to it. It can include the use of new technologies in which music and related business ventures are built. Poverty entrepreneurship is about innovative business activity amongst low-income and homeless people. It is a newer form of entrepreneurship although it has been around for some time.

3.17 Small business entrepreneurship

Small business entrepreneurship involves the study of how small business owners and managers utilize entrepreneurial thinking. Traditionally this has been the focus of most entrepreneurship studies. Social entrepreneurship involves some kind of business activity that has an altruistic goal. This normally means it involves non-profit initiatives that are combined with for-profit activity. It is a popular form of entrepreneurship due to the need to balance different kinds of objectives in society.

3.18 Sport entrepreneurship

Sport entrepreneurship is a relatively new form of entrepreneurship that is rapidly gaining ascendancy in the literature. It is usually included in the management styles of athletes, teams, and coaches involved in sport. It can occur at the public, private, or hybrid level depending on the context. Sustainable entrepreneurship involves thinking about the future whilst conducting current business activities. This is important due to environmental degradation potentially causing damage for future generations. Thus, social, economic as well as financial considerations are included within this type of entrepreneurship.

3.19 Technology entrepreneurship

Technology entrepreneurship involves understanding how internet and communications are used innovatively in a business context. Normally this involves focusing on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robots. Venture financing focuses on understanding how crowdfunding and other innovative monetary ventures are utilized by entrepreneurs. Recent technological innovations such as blockchain have influenced the direction of research related to venture financing.

4 FUTURE RESEARCH IDEAS

There is still much yet to know about how and why entrepreneurship is conducted in society. Whilst there has been a huge advancement generally in the type and depth of entrepreneurship activities explored in the literature, there is still someway to go. Future research needs to continue focusing on current entrepreneurial conceptualizations but also take into account recent crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic in studies. This means focusing on crisis and resilience in entrepreneurship to understand how new behaviors are developed. Table  2 below states some future research questions and methodological approaches related to different types of entrepreneurship.

Artisan entrepreneurship whilst being an old and traditional form of entrepreneurship has seen a resurgence in recent years due to working from home requirements and an interest in the craft industry. Future research needs to focus more on linking artisan entrepreneurship to other forms of entrepreneurship such as the base of the pyramid to understand how family and heritage influences business development. Due to the increase in websites such as Etsy there could be more focus on corporate forms of entrepreneurship that tie into the craft or creative economy. This would be useful in order to understand cultural connotations of entrepreneurship and the difference in the types of products or services offered based on location. It would be interesting to focus more on developing countries as much of the existing entrepreneurship research tends to focus on North America and Europe. Examples of new research issues to be discussed are: How have developing countries integrated digital innovation into creative business pursuits? What is the role of entrepreneurship education in developing more high-impact and value-adding business ventures?

The role of education in emerging economies needs to be investigated in more depth. This can include focusing on the entrepreneurial ecosystems evident in these economies and how they might differ or be the same to developed economies. New research is needed on how changing societal norms regarding environmental entrepreneurship that integrates social and sustainability goals occurs in developing countries. This can include more attention to be placed on ethnic entrepreneurs that transcend their home and host country as a form of transnational entrepreneur. The role of the diaspora and family in these business pursuits could be considered.

Whilst there has been a large increase in interest on female entrepreneurship there are still new research avenues yet to be discovered. This includes linking female entrepreneurship to other areas of entrepreneurship such as fitness and frugal to understand the linkages. Whilst female entrepreneurship is considered part of gender entrepreneurship, more research is required on what kinds of governmental policies work best based on gender. This would yield interesting findings related to how and why people due to their gender start entrepreneurial business ventures. This is particularly important given the emphasis on health entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic but also because of related heritage effects such as the networks ties an entrepreneur has because of their culture. Additional research is required on immigrant entrepreneurship in terms of how entrepreneurs facilitate business ventures based on international collaborations and whether this changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A topical research issue at the moment is what is the role of LGBTQ+ people on entrepreneurship due to changing societal norms and regulations. Whilst there has been some research on this topic due to sensitivities around these issues more research is needed.

Research on minority entrepreneurship has blossomed in recent years but more knowledge is needed on how specific forms of entrepreneurship such as music and poverty are influenced by the status of entrepreneurs. This could include examining how small business minority entrepreneurs operate based on social conditions. An interesting research track could be focusing on minority sport or sustainability entrepreneurs to understand why certain types of entrepreneurs might be interested in specific business industries. This would help in contributing to the existing literature on technological and venture financing regarding entrepreneurship. However, due to large variety in type of entrepreneurship there is still much research needed on these topics that will continue to evolve as society changes. This means entrepreneurship as a general field of business management offers many new and existing opportunities.

5 NEW THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENTS

Handfield and Melnyk ( 1998 ) suggest that theory building activities can be classified as discovery, description mapping, relationship building, theory validation, and theory extension/refinement. Discovery involves finding new areas for further theory development and this can include new topics for entrepreneurship researchers. As many theories in entrepreneurship are interdisciplinary such as the theory of sport-based entrepreneurship (Ratten, 2011 ) it is likely that new areas of technological development or societal growth will be included. This is likely to occur with theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic including crisis and resilience management. In addition, geo-political change resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic but also the Ukraine/Russia crisis will likely result in new entrepreneurship theories.

Description involves exploring a field in terms of its meaning. In entrepreneurship there is constantly a need to know more about the process of new business creation due to technology advances. Digital and mobile commerce transformed business and this resulted in the new field of digital entrepreneurship growing.

Mapping involves analyzing the key themes and relationships in a scientific area of study. It can be helpful in terms of looking at research studies in a diagrammatic or picture format. This can yield new insights that were previously unavailable. Researchers can map studies in different ways depending on the main themes being identified. Mapping can be done in a manual way or through statistical programs. Thus, the approach taken varies based on the needs and ideas of the researchers.

Relationship building involves finding linkages between topics in the literature. This can occur through linkages that are evident in everyday activity or occur at certain time periods. TO find linkages can be hard as they differ depending on the context. It is important to understand why relationships occur and how they are important to each partner. This means focusing on the power differences between each partner in a relationship.

Theory validation involves testing theories to make sure they work in practice. In changing social times as evident with the COVID-19 pandemic theories need to be tested to see if they remain relevant. By validating a theory, it can help in predicting future results. This can enable researchers to include new variables and to extrapolate existing findings.

Theory extension involves refining a theory, so it better represents the phenomenon it is studying. This can include adding new thinking about entrepreneurship in terms of how it is defined and measured. By refining a theory then additional research can be conducted to test it. Thereby allowing observed outcomes to be better analyzed. In entrepreneurship research theory extension often occurs by adding a new context or variable. Sometimes this means adding a new field of study such as social or non-profit initiatives in the case of theories regarding social entrepreneurship or sport and fitness with sport entrepreneurship.

6 CONCLUSION

This article has provided an overview of entrepreneurship in terms of existing types and future research directions. As there are so many different types of entrepreneurship it is useful to have this overview article that researchers, policy makers, and students can read thereby providing a good way to highlight the main ways entrepreneurship is conceptualized in the literature. As discussed in this article there are numerous types of entrepreneurship that differ in the way they are conceptualized and used in practice and in academia. This makes it important to recognize and acknowledge them in order to build a more holistic understanding of what entrepreneurship is in society. Suggested future research avenues were stated that included potential research questions and methodological approaches. This is helpful to those wanting to further improve our understanding of entrepreneurship.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Vanessa Ratten: Conceptualization.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

I have no conflict of interest.

Vanessa Ratten is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship in the La Trobe Business School at La Trobe University (Australia). She teaches Corporate Venturing, Managing Innovation and Analyse & Ideate. She has published seven sole authored books including S port Entrepreneurship: Developing and Sustaining an Entrepreneurial Sports Culture  (Springer) and two textbooks including Analyse, Ideate and Grow: The Role of Creativity and Entrepreneurship (Springer). She has also edited more than twenty books including  Entrepreneurship and the Community: A Multidisciplinary Perspective on Creativity, Social Challenges, and Business (Springer) .

Open Research

Data availability statement.

Research data are not shared.

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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Entrepreneurship and family role: a systematic review of a growing research.

• Department of Social Psychology and Anthropology, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

In recent years, research on the family role and entrepreneurship has increased noticeably, consolidating itself as a valid and current subject of study. This paper presents a systematic analysis of academic research, applying bibliometric indicators, and cluster analysis, which define the state of research about the relationship between family role and entrepreneurship. For this purpose, using three well-accepted databases among the research community: Scopus, Web of Science, Business Source, a total of 92 articles were selected and analyzed, published between 1989 and 2019 (until March). A cluster analysis shows five main areas of literature development: (1) cultural dimension and geneder issue; (2) family business and succession; (3) parental role models and entrepreneurial intentions; (4) entrepreneurship and self-employment; (5) family support and women entrepreneurs. Findings also show how this is a relatively recent field of study, with a multidisciplinary character.

Introduction

Entrepreneurship is a determining factor of economic development ( Thurik, 2009 ; Hessels and van Stel, 2011 ; Audretsch et al., 2015 ), social and structural change ( Acs et al., 1999 ; North, 2005 ). Entrepreneurship not only contributes to the economic and social growth of a nation, but also stimulates the development of knowledge ( Shane, 2000 ), technological change ( Acs and Varga, 2005 ), competitiveness and innovation ( Parker, 2009 ; Blanco-González et al., 2015 ). In fact, the European community has promoted numerous actions aimed to improve and develop the entrepreneurial attitude of European citizens toward Business venture, focusing on aspects that are essential for creating a corporate identity. However, the levels of entrepreneurial activity in some European countries are still low. According to the latest international study of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), published in 2018, Europe has the lowest TEA (Total Entrepreneurial Activity) of all regions in all age studied. This is a concerning result, especially in it's current crisis period.

Entrepreneurial activity is not just about discovering new ideas and possibilities ( Shane and Venkataraman, 2000 ), but also intentional planning, developed through the cognitive processing of internal and external factors ( Del Giudice et al., 2014 ). Intention is a cognitive process that precedes the effective involvement of the individual in any type of activity ( Liñán and Chen, 2009 ), and in particular, entrepreneurial intention is closely linked to business world ( Moriano et al., 2012 ) and has become a rapidly evolving research sector in the international scene ( Liñán and Fayolle, 2015 ).

Currently, in the literature there are two different theoretical approaches which attempt to clarify why some individuals are more inclined toward an entrepreneurial career when compared to others: the first analyzes personality traits ( Zhao and Seibert, 2006 ; Rauch and Frese, 2007 ; Leutner et al., 2014 ; DeNisi, 2015 ), the second focuses on environmental and behavioral factors ( Peterson, 1980 ; Aldrich, 1990 ; Baum et al., 2001 ). Specifically, researchers study the importance of some individual traits as factors predetermining to perform entrepreneurial activities such as high levels of self-efficacy ( Krueger et al., 2000 ; Zhao et al., 2005 ; Lee et al., 2011 ; Rasul et al., 2017 ), risk propensity ( Schwartz and Whistler, 2009 ; Tumasjan and Braun, 2012 ; Yurtkoru et al., 2014 ), tolerance to ambiguity, and uncertainty ( Hmieleski and Corbett, 2006 ; Schwartz and Whistler, 2009 ; Arrighetti et al., 2012 ), metacognitive abilities and individual abilities ( Kor et al., 2007 ; Dickson et al., 2008 ; Liñán et al., 2011 ), locus of control ( Battistelli, 2001 ; Gordini, 2013 ), as well as creativity ( Hamidi et al., 2008 ; Smith et al., 2016 ; Biraglia and Kadile, 2017 ); the environmental and behavioral focuses refers to the Social Learning Theory ( Bandura, 1986 ), according to which, individuals learn certain skills from other people, which act as models. Specifically, the term “role model” emphasizes the individual's tendency to identify with other people occupying important social and the consequent cognitive interdependence of skills and behavior patterns ( Gibson, 2004 ).

In this scenario, the role of the family in guiding young people toward choosing an autonomous/entrepreneurial job becomes important ( Fraccaroli and Vitali, 2001 ; Odoardi, 2003 ); the social network is an important intangible resource for the development of their business activities ( Presutti et al., 2011 ); in particular, the perception of the family support influences, in the university students, the choice of career in general ( Henderson and Robertson, 2000 ) and specifically the business one ( Türker et al., 2005 ; Taormina and Lao, 2007 ; Zellweger et al., 2011 ; Laspita et al., 2012 ).

This evidence is not enough proof. For example, some researchers have not found a statistically significant relationship between entrepreneurial parenting role models and children's decision to choose an entrepreneurial career ( Rodriguez et al., 1999 ; Kim et al., 2006 ), other studies, instead, have found a negative effect, especially in situations of failure of the family business ( Scherer et al., 1989 ; Mungai and Velamuri, 2011 ).

Taking into consideration the ideas exposed above, we conducted this systematic review to analyze the relationship between the role of the family and the entrepreneurial process. Specifically, we aim to answer the following questions:

1. What is the temporal development of research on the relationship of the role model in entrepreneurship?

2. Who are the most productive authors, countries and journals?

3. What are the thematic areas that have been most studied by researchers?

Furthermore, to reduce the risk of bias to a minimum, we applied a series of bibliometric indicators. Bibliometric indicators are defined as a rigorous set of statistical and mathematics methods to be applied to documents and other patterns of knowledge ( Pritchard, 1969 ). It is a method widely used in the literature as it provides an overview of academic research, through the identification of the main trends in a given field of study ( Martínez-López et al., 2018 ). Many bibliometric revisions regarding entrepreneurship have been conducted ( Cabeza-Ramírez et al., 2017 ; Baier-Fuentes et al., 2019 ). However, specifically to the relationship between family role and entrepreneurship, our research did not generate any results. The only existing revisions take into consideration the family, understood as a family business ( López-Fernández et al., 2015 ).

In the following section we explain the methodology for systematic analysis, and we will report the main results. In the final part, we present the conclusions that can be drawn from our analysis, its limitations, as well as reflections for future developments.

Materials and Methods

In this article, we review the literature on the family role in entrepreneurial capacity using the systematic analysis method as “explicit, rigorous and transparent methodology” ( Greenhalgh et al., 2004 , p. 582). In this sense, we collected the publications until March 2019 and extracted the most relevant results, through the application of statistical methods.

To reduce the risk of bias, during the selection phase of the articles, we used a mechanism established in the literature, the PRISMA method ( Liberati et al., 2009 ; Urrútia and Bonfill, 2010 ), which allows to make the work replicable ( Lourenço and Jones, 2006 ; Pittaway and Cope, 2007 ).

In order to search for relevant articles, we used three databases: Scopus, Web of Science and Business Source, without defining a specific publication period. The selection of these items was made on basis that are considered the most powerful databases in existence. Specifically, Web of Science because it is the oldest database of citations, dating back to 1900, and provides strong coverage in international research ( Li et al., 2010 ), guaranteeing the highest quality; Scopus, on the other hand, with 27 million abstracts, is the largest database of scientific literature ( Burnham, 2006 ); Business Source as a third database, as it provides a repertoire on entrepreneurial, business, and economics sciences literature.

Initially, within each database, we applied the Boolean search terms “famil * role,” “famil * support,” “parent * role,” “parent * support,” and “entrepren * ” to identify all the publications that contained the keywords in the title of publications, author of key words or abstract. After eliminating all the duplicate articles, a total of 192 documents were identified over a period of time between 1989 and 2019. All 192 abstracts were read to ensure that the document deals with our construct. When a doubt arose, the entire document was read to confirm this.

As far as the inclusion/exclusion criterion is concerned, we have only considered journal articles since they are scientific knowledge ( Podsakoff et al., 2005 ), written in English or Spanish language, and containing a direct relationship between the family (parental) role and entrepreneurship. On the contrary, were excluded: chapters of books and conference papers, publications that did not make any connection between the two constructs, or that analyzed the role of family members other than the parental couple (for example, possible partners or brothers), and all articles written in a language other than English or Spanish. For example, we have excluded the article by Fernández Robin et al. (2017 ) because they mention “the role of the family” in the abstract, but they refer specifically to housewives for women and how entrepreneurship and of family assistance seem incompatible, or the article by Logan (2014) , as it analyzes the relationship between family and entrepreneurship, but refers to the support received from the partner or spouse.

A total of 92 articles were analyzed in this study (Annex 1 in Supplementary Material ).

Figure 1 shows the flow Diagram of the study according to the recommendations of the PRISMA method.

Figure 1 . PRISMA 2009 flow diagram.

Different types of indicators have been used.

Specifically, we analyzed year of publication, the productivity of authors, countries and journals, research area (e.g., Social Science, Business and Management, Economic etc.), type of research and sample. In addition, in order to measure the impact on productivity and on citation of an author's publications and journals we used the h -index ( Hirsch, 2005 ). In this sense, as underlined by Gaviria-Marin et al. (2018) , it is an important bibliometric indicator that is commonly used by researchers given its ease of interpretation.

To analyze the most investigated thematic areas, was used the analysis of the co-occurrence of the authors' keywords, through the VOSviewer software version 1.6.10 ( Van Eck and Waltman, 2010 , 2014 ). It is a bibliometric technique that allows graphic representation, identification and classification of clusters in a strategic matrix associated on the basis of similarities and dissimilarities (distance-based maps). Moreover, while the qualitative analysis of the literature can be affected by the subjectivity of the author, this method allows to overcome this problem, becoming an instrument of undisputed and consolidated analysis ( Vallaster et al., 2019 ), used in presently ( Valenzuela et al., 2017 ; Martínez-López et al., 2018 ).

In Table 1 we show a summary of the main methodological features of the study.

Table 1 . Characteristics of the bibliometric study.

Figure 2 illustrates the growth, during the period 1989–2019, of the family role and entrepreneurship publications in the international scene. Research has experienced great development in recent years, in fact, since 2011, the interest in topics concerning the relationship between family and entrepreneurship has increased significantly, recording the most profitable peak of publications in 2017. Although only the first 3 months of 2019 are included in the data set, 4 articles had already been published during this period.

Figure 2 . Evolution of publications.

This increase in publications in recent years may suggest a continuous evolution of family role in entrepreneurship as current and still valid research trend topic.

In order to analyze the trend of research in the family/parent support and entrepreneurship constructs, we used the dimensions obtained from cluster analysis. Figure 3 shows the progress of the research from 1989 to 2019. As noted, the constructs are associated with different fields of research, emphasizing the multidisciplinary character.

Figure 3 . Article published by cluster by year.

For example, over the years, the trend of research interests has changed. From the interest shown by the literature toward the cultural and social dimension (cluster 1—red line) and toward the individual personological characteristics of the entrepreneur (cluster 4—yellow line), in recent years the dimension that has received the most attention is the family one. The two most in-depth research themes, with a peak of interest between 2017 and 2018, are: the influence of parental role models and the educational dimension in the development of entrepreneurial intentions (cluster 3—turquoise line), and the importance of family support (cluster 5—purple line), especially in developing countries and disadvantaged groups, such as female entrepreneurship.

Furthermore, in the year 2019 it would seem that there is a potential recovery for the theme of family businesses as factors of economic development, but clusters 2 and 3 would still seem to be actual.

Afterwards, we analyzed the productivity of scientific journals, generating a list of 92 articles. For the purposes of our analysis, we have considered journals with a minimum of 3 publications on the subject, classifying them from the most productive to the least productive. As can be seen from Table 2 , the scientific journal that has more active the role of the family in the entrepreneurial process is International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research ( n = 6 articles; h -index = 44).

Table 2 . Article with the most publications on the subject.

The analysis also revealed the multidisciplinary nature of the research area. Most publications ( n = 71) are related to business and management research, but others come from psychology and social sciences ( n = 14), economics ( n = 6), and engineering ( n = 1).

We performed as well an analysis to identify the authors who, are considered most influential in the development of this field of study. In the 92 articles that were part of the bibliometric study, a total of 239 authors were found (2.59 authors per article). 90.9% contributed with only one work on the subject, which shows that it is a highly dispersed field, probably due to its multidisciplinary nature.

This interpretation gained more strength after verifying that only 8 authors participated in two or more articles, as shown in Table 3 . The first 3 authors with 4 articles are Kaciak, E. (h-index = 8); Memili, E. (h-index = 13), and Welsh, D. (h-index = 14).

Table 3 . Authors with the greatest number of articles published.

Were also analyzed the countries where the research field of our object of study is more developed ( Figure 4 ). Therefore, for the purposes of this analysis we have considered only countries with a minimum of 3 publications. The United States is the country with the largest number of publications ( n = 20), followed by India ( n = 9), and Canada ( n = 7). The United Kingdom ( n = 6) and Spain ( n = 5) follow, in fourth and fifth place of the rank, and represent the two most productive countries in Europe in terms of research on the role of the family and entrepreneurship.

Figure 4 . Publications of countries.

Finally, we conducted an analysis on the nature of the research and the type of sample. The quantitative analysis is the most used in the selected studies (69.6%), using a variety of analysis techniques: descriptive ( n = 34) logistic, linear and hierarchical regression ( n = 22); confirmatory, using Structural Equation Modeling ( n = 14); correlation ( n = 17); t -test ( n = 6); univariate ( n = 5); and multivariate ( n = 4). Qualitative studies ( n = 19), on the other hand, the ones less frequently used are: observation ( n = 3), case studies ( n = 5), interviews ( n = 6), in-depth interviews ( n = 8), and focus group ( n = 1), representing only 20.7% of the studies. Most of the articles applied more than one analysis technique. Finally, four articles (4.4%) used a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative research).

The results are summarized in Table 4 .

Table 4 . Nature of research and type of sample.

Descriptive statistics and regression analysis are the most commonly used techniques in the reviewed articles, followed by correlation analysis and confirmation analysis through Structural Equation Modeling. The latter was mostly used, especially in more recent articles.

As for the type of sample used, the studies with entrepreneurs prevailed in 59.9% of the analyzed articles (of which 26.7% were female entrepreneurs), while the studies that analyzed students accounted for 30.5%. 7.7% of the studies considered other types of samples that do not fall into the categories previously explained.

En general, to identify the state of research on the relationship between family role and entrepreneurship, proceeded the co-occurrence analysis with one occurrence per keyword, for a total frequency of 237 authors' keywords grouped in 25 clusters.

As shown in Figure 5 , the stronger relationships are graphically represented by larger circles and labels. The research topics most closely examined by scholars deals with entrepreneurship, family support and entrepreneurial intent.

Figure 5 . One co-occurrence for keywords. Source: VOSviewer version 1.6.10.

For the purposes of the study, we have narrowed the field, performing a co-occurrence analysis with a minimum of three occurrences for keyword, for a total of 22 authors' keywords. The mapping and grouping provides a general review of the research in the context of entrepreneurial literature and in Figure 6 are shown the five most relevant clusters. Each cluster is represented by a different color that highlights the relationship between them while the distance between the clusters provides information on the intensity of the relationship ( Van Eck and Waltman, 2010 ).

Figure 6 . Three co-occurrence for keywords. Source: VOSviewer version 1.6.10.

Cluster 1: Cultural Dimension and Gender Issue (7 Items)

The occurrence of 21.8% of the keywords studied is associated with the red cluster formed by the following keywords: culture, women, female entrepreneurship, entrepreneurialism, gender, social capital and students.

The cultural dimension is one of the key elements for the family background and entrepreneurial process. According to some authors ( Li, 2007 ; Gurel et al., 2010 ; Castillo-Palacio et al., 2017 ) the social and family context in which the individual growths, shapes his creative thinking, predisposes him to innovation and risk perception, develops social capital, generates value, thus creating cultures that encourage more entrepreneurship and autonomy than others.

As suggested by Zhao et al. (2012) there are two different theoretical explanations about the role that culture plays in business world. The first one, of a psychological nature, acting at the individual level ( Hayton et al., 2002 ) and presupposes that culture acts on the skills and abilities of individual, modifying the behavior. The second line, based on institutional theory, considers culture as a substratum of the community, so some societies are more likely to promote entrepreneurial processes.

Several authors use this prospective to analyze entrepreneurial activity in different contexts, for example, Welsh et al. (2018) , applying institutional theory, compared women entrepreneurs in Morocco and Turkey. Other studies have focused on other business contexts ( McIntosh and Islam, 2010 ; Ramadani, 2015 ), predominantly Islamic ( Anggadwita et al., 2015 ; Mohd Rhouse et al., 2016 ), and Middle Eastern cultures ( Bastian et al., 2018 ).

From this point of view, the cultural dimension is closely related to the “woman” variable and more generally to the “gender issue” because, as several studies have shown ( Freytag and Thurik, 2007 ; Sengupta et al., 2013 ), behavior is often a consequence of different socio-cultural values that are taught and learned since youth and that last over time, which also applies to entrepreneurial behavior ( Hofstede, 2001 ; Eid, 2006 ).

Indeed, despite the positive aspects of entrepreneurship understood as a career accessible to all and economically advantageous, a more in-depth analysis shows that there are many cultural obstacles ( Ahl and Marlow, 2012 ), especially for women.

Specifically, the gap between male and female entrepreneurship has been explained by various theories, among which the most exhaustive is the “Social Role Theory” developed by Eagly (1987) . According to this explanation, the male group is configured as the ideal for the entrepreneurial field ( Bird and Brush, 2002 ), while women consider entrepreneurship less as a career path ( Ahl, 2006 ).

Rubio-Bañón and Esteban-Lloret (2016 ) conducted a research to analyze the possible differences between male and female entrepreneurs in 55 different countries, considering cultural factors as among the most relevant hindrances for entrepreneurship ( Bosma and Kelley, 2018 ). The observed results do not yet confirm that cultures with a higher rate of masculinity lead to a greater gender gap in female entrepreneurship rates. Other research has shown that in communities with high virility, women can share and take ownership of these cultural values and be more motivated toward an entrepreneurial career.

Indeed, the relationship between gender and cultural beliefs is still unclear: some studies have shown that women are pursue less an entrepreneurial career ( Chen et al., 1998 ; Gupta et al., 2005 ). Other studies, instead, suggest that in cultures considered to be stereotypically masculine, women are more inclined toward entrepreneurial activity ( Mueller and Conway Dato-on, 2008 ; Cardozo Crowe, 2010 ).

The cultural component, as a substrate of a society, comes into play with the variable “students,” in fact, as the literature shows, it is important to adopt policies that support entrepreneurial development at school.

The promotion and enhancement of the “entrepreneurial culture” has become an important component in the initiatives and in the offer of services for students. Universities are called to accept this challenge to prepare students for the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills and competences that allow them to cope with the multiplicity of today's society, in constant evolution and change ( Bygrave, 2004 ).

Promoting student entrepreneurship means making them more aware of their future, in the field of business, to translate ideas into actions.

This cluster shows a relationship with the main terms of the analysis: entrepreneurship and family support, because cultural factors pass through the micro-social dimension of society, including the institutions that live in that community. Social agencies like the school, but also the family, have the task of creating an entrepreneurial-supportive environment that can encourage entrepreneurial activities in students, helping to develop an entrepreneurial culture ( Roffe, 1999 ). Supporting this point of view, many authors ( Pruett et al., 2009 ; Al-Harthi, 2017 ) agree that regardless of the type of person, different strategies can be used to motivate the students in choosing an entrepreneurial career, encouraging them to work independently and to expose them to entrepreneurial success stories that can serve as models for the acquisition of skills, technical knowledge and relevant know-how.

Cluster 2: Family Business and Succession (4 Items)

The green cluster consists of the following keywords: family business, succession, economic development, and Arabia Saudita, which constitute the 12.1% of the occurrences.

The authors agree that the factor that distinguishes family and non-family businesses is the intention to transfer the control of the company to its following generation ( Chua et al., 1999 ), a factor that also contributes to economic growth in the developing countries (and also in advanced economies).

The intertwining of family firms and business has a profound impact on entrepreneurial experiences, especially for children, it is so influential that it is considered by Rogoff and Heck (2003) , together with human capital and education, as the oxygen that fuels the entrepreneurial fire.

Family businesses are important, not only from a financial point of view, but also because provide long-term stability in the labor market because of the responsibility they show to communities, since they convey values and knowledge. All these factors are valuable instruments of change to counteract the current financial crisis. As highlighted in the final report on family businesses, conducted in 2009 by the European Commission, at European level, more than 60% of existing businesses are family-run. “Most SMEs (especially micro and small enterprises) are family businesses and a large majority of family companies are SMEs” ( European Commission, 2009 , p. 4).

However, the successor's intention to continue their family's business depends on whether their parents are willing to support them, contributing to the development and success of their family activities ( De Massis et al., 2014 ). In fact, despite the undoubted importance that family succession has from an economic and social point of view, international studies have shown that the newer generation has low interest as well as intention to work in their parents' business ( Zellweger, 2017 ). According to the Sieger et al. (2016) , conducted in 50 countries, 8.8% of the 122,000 university students intend to start their own business, but only 2.7% want to be part of the family business. A model of “employee first, then founder” emerges 5 years after studies, in which 38.2% intend to found a business, but only 4.8% consider themselves as employee in their own family business ( Sieger et al., 2016 ). Similar results were achieved by Zellweger et al. (2011) , who found that the possibility of being able to inherit the family business does not make it a desirable choice. The successors tend to feel confident about their skills and knowledges, but appear pessimistic about the succession because they considered themselves less autonomous.

In the current context, characterized by an aging population and the desire of many entrepreneurs to transfer the family business to their children, this result is worrying ( Garcia et al., 2018 ).

The performance of those who enter the family business is better when perceived family responsibility as strong, this result highlights the strength of family expectations in positively influencing members' performance ( Dawson et al., 2015 ).

One of the very few studies on the succession of daughters in the family business, conducted by Overbeke et al. (2013) , examined the factors that may contribute to this generational shift. The results revealed that family support and leadership tutoring are the most important elements.

Parental support in family businesses is very important not only in the succession phase, but also when the company is consolidated, for example, based on data from 228 entrepreneurs, Marshall et al. (2018) found that the active involvement of the family creates a common destiny among members that favors resilience for an entrepreneur, compared to the owners of non-family businesses.

It is important to understand that the factors that influence the intentions of the members of the next generation to undertake an entrepreneurial career requires a systemic analysis that also considers the behaviors of their parents ( Nordqvist and Melin, 2010 ) and the perception that children have of this support ( Garcia et al., 2018 ).

Cluster 3: Parental Role Models and Entrepreneurial Intention (4 Items)

The third cluster associates the following keywords: entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurship education, parental role models and self-efficacy. The 22.6% of keywords are related to this cluster which emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurial education, parental role model and self-efficacy for entrepreneurial intention development.

Historically, intentions have been considered as the antecedent of behavior ( Ajzen and Fishbein, 1977 ; Ajzen, 1991 ). The meta-analysis by Sheeran (2002) conducted on 422 studies, showed that the correlation between intentions and behavior explains 28% of the variance in behavior. For this reason, much of the literature has been interested in studying the factors influencing intentions. In this regard, in recent decades, great importance has been attached to the positive influence played by role models in improving the intentions of choosing an entrepreneurial career. Bosma et al. (2012) found that 54% of a sample of 292 entrepreneurs had a role model (20% in the pre-start-up phase, 10% in the post-start-up phase and 24% in both phases), in addition, one-third of the sample stated that they would not have founded their company without this role model.

The positive influence of role models on entrepreneurial intentions has been empirically analyzed in various cultural contexts. A German study by Chlosta et al. (2012) showed that parental role models increased the likelihood of individuals becoming self-employed. Urbano et al. (2011) , instead, established that individuals with the same ethnicity can act as a model, encouraging other individuals in the community to create new businesses. The study conducted by Pablo-Lerchundi et al. (2015) showed that the profession carried out by parents influences the entrepreneurial intentions of students, who were more likely to choose an entrepreneurial career if their parents were entrepreneurs than children of public officials. In recent years, the impact of role models on entrepreneurial process was confirmed in different professional categories, as in academic entrepreneurs ( Fernández-Pérez et al., 2015 ) and active entrepreneurs ( Bosma et al., 2012 ; Fritsch et al., 2012 ).

Self-efficacy has also been considered an important factor that increases the intentions to undertake a certain behavior, especially if associated with a positive attitude toward this behavior ( Markham et al., 2002 ). Relationship between self-efficacy and parental role models as well as attitudes toward entrepreneurship have been established in numerous studies. For instance, Carr and Sequeira (2007) in a research conducted on 308 individuals, found direct and indirect effects of previous family exposures on entrepreneurial intention, through the mediation of perceived family support and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. BarNir et al. (2011) , which indicated the positive influence of role models on entrepreneurial intention and the role of mediation exercised by self-efficacy, arrived at the same conclusion. Similar studies were conducted for female university students ( Sahinidis et al., 2019 ). Laviolette et al. (2012) found that role models positively influence entrepreneurial intentions by increasing self-efficacy, provided that such models are positively perceived by individuals, so as to enable them to identify themselves.

Furthermore, role models also play a key role in entrepreneurial training processes, positively influencing the development of entrepreneurial skills ( Heinonen and Poikkijoki, 2006 ). Entrepreneurship education, effectively, influences on the intention of undertaking autonomous activities through two objectives: creating and spreading knowledge ( Perreira and Da Silva, 2003 ) and encouraging students to develop skills in human capital ( Gupta and York, 2008 ). The importance given to the role of education in the entrepreneurial process is underlined by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) which dedicated the special theme of 2008 to Entrepreneurship Education and Training.

In the literature there are studies that explain how perceived family support can come into play in this process. For example, in a research by Denanyoh et al. (2015) emerged that university support, structural support and emotional support of the family are important factors that influence the entrepreneurial intention of students in Ghana. The same result emerges from a study conducted by Bignotti and le Roux (2016) which found that entrepreneurship education and family support positively influence students' need for achievement and entrepreneurial intentions. In another study conducted, Laguía et al. (2019 ) found that the perceived family support and university support are positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions in students. Furthermore, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial education moderate the relationship between support and entrepreneurial intention.

At the same time, the research emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship education as a possible tool that, based on skills and knowledge useful to the subjects in order to achieve greater self-confidence and security, could lead to overcoming the gap between men and women in the entrepreneurial field (gender bias).

Entrialgo and Iglesias (2017) , on a sample of 338 students found that the role models and entrepreneurship education have a greater positive influence on attitudes toward entrepreneurship in women compared to men.

Exposure to parental role models and entrepreneurship education can be used as tools to reduce the negative prejudicial effects, in general and those related to female entrepreneurship in particular, improving attitudes toward an autonomous career choice.

Cluster 4: Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment (4 Items)

The co-occurrence of 25% of keywords is related to the fourth cluster that shows the greatest number of connections in the map. The following words are part of this cluster: entrepreneurship, self-employment, entrepreneurs, and personalities ( Figure 7 ).

Figure 7 . Relations of the yellow cluster. Source: VOSviewer version 1.6.10.

Entrepreneurship is considered instrumental to economic growth and technological development ( Fellnhofer and Kraus, 2015 ; Nowinski and Haddoud, 2019 ), as an important source of employment in developed and developing countries ( Kuratko, 2005 ). It is not just a factor of economic growth aimed at creating new jobs; it also constitutes a useful personal development tool contributing to the resolution of social issues by promoting a society capable of attributing the correct value to the entrepreneurial mind, and by fostering development of positive attitudes in achieving objectives that concern the community. For example, according to The European Commission (2003) , it is a state of mind and a process aimed at creating and developing economic activity by combining willingness to take risks, creativity and innovation.

For the reasons mentioned above, discovering which factors, at the micro and macro level, can lead people to pursue an entrepreneurial career, in recent decades has been the one of the central theme of scholars. In particular, studies conducted on the characteristics of potential entrepreneurs tend to focus, especially on the importance attributed to personality traits (this explains the strong relationship between the words “entrepreneurship” and “personality”), but also, albeit with less strong relationships, to the resources accumulated from education and experience (educational and family background) ( Serneels, 2008 ) and specific behavioral models ( Liñán and Fayolle, 2015 ), which is why, in our analysis, it represents the construct with more relationships with other clusters .

The study of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship can be divided into two phases. In the initial stages of the research, the psychological literature has focused on the study of the personality and the motivations that push a subject to undertake this choice and that can lead to a possible work and personal success ( Boyd and Vozikis, 1994 ). Caird (1993) , in an attempt to trace a profile of the typical entrepreneur, offered a synthesis of the results of the researches that have used psychological tests on entrepreneurs, it is necessary to underline that the poor homogeneity of the entrepreneurial population represents a critical aspect for this survey. For this reason, currently, the focus has shifted to the interaction between socio-economic and cultural reality, and decision-making behaviors capable of influencing a chain of events on different levels (personal, family, and economic) ( Shane, 2003 ; Rauch and Frese, 2007 ). What we are witnessing, in fact, is a decentralization of personal characteristics and a greater attention to complex behaviors acted along different phases of the entrepreneurial process. However, the effects of the cultural-family component have not yet been fully clarified ( Ucbasaran et al., 2008 ). Research on the creation of new businesses has focused mainly on the importance of higher education and employment, with a limited emphasis on education received in the family. This could be the explanation about the challenging why it is so difficult to establish clear links between the role of the family and the potential entrepreneurial spirit.

Cluster 5: Family Support and Women Entrepreneurs (3 Items)

Finally, the fifth cluster in purple shows the closeness and strength of connection in the words family support, women entrepreneurs and India. Together with cluster four, it represents the heart of this analysis, which is why even if the number of keywords related to this cluster is low (18.5% of the occurrences) it is the second cluster with the greatest number of relationships with others ( Figure 8 ).

Figure 8 . Relations of the violet cluster. Source: VOSviewer version 1.6.10.

In most societies, especially in developing countries, women's access to entrepreneurship is difficult. The possible explanations have been analyzed in the literature and, although with some socio-cultural differences, they can be summarized as follows: poor social background and lack of support family; conflicts family/care responsibilities; inadequate training; lack of institutional and social interest; consequences of male domination in society and socio-economic discrimination ( Kibas, 2006 ; Mutuku et al., 2006 ; Lockyer and George, 2012 ; Raghuvanshi et al., 2017 ). In recent years, many researchers have analyzed female entrepreneurship and associated limitations ( Gautam and Mishra, 2016 ; Raghuvanshi et al., 2017 ).

For example, in our analysis, several studies have underlined the importance of family support, when external support systems are limited, especially economically disadvantaged countries or in the case of female entrepreneurship ( Pearson et al., 2008 ; Chang et al., 2009 , 2012 ).

Family support is important with particular reference to women entrepreneurs ( Neneh, 2017 ; Welsh et al., 2018 ), particularly for those who may not have access to other networks during the business development process ( Greve and Salaf, 2003 ), but also in finding the right balance between family duties and working. In this direction, are the results of a research conducted by Heilbrunn and Davidovitch (2011) with 11 Israeli women entrepreneurs. The support perceived by the family can be even more valuable in the case of entrepreneurial families, because they become models for aspiring entrepreneurs during the process of preparing for the adventure, influencing entrepreneurial intentions ( Ahmed et al., 2012 ; Edelman et al., 2016 ; Zhu et al., 2017 ).

As a result, the study also confirmed the positive influence of family members, in terms of support, in the strategic management process. In fact, family members act as positive educational models, which can contribute to starting a business and successful management ( Steier, 2003 ; Arregle et al., 2007 ), through knowledge and values that are handed down to the children become their human and social capital.

In addition, family members can provide the entrepreneur with a financial start capital of family finances (for example, in the initial phases) or help obtain external funding sources ( Aldrich and Cliff, 2003 ; Anderson et al., 2005 ). Furthermore, they can offer the necessary work and support that can be useful for creating and managing a business ( Teixeira, 2001 ; Karra et al., 2006 ).

We could fundamentally highlight two types of family support, emotional/relational, and economic/financial, both a vital resource for supporting entrepreneurship, and useful for both entrepreneurial and economic growth ( Shen et al., 2017 ). In this sense it is wise to expect that emotional support is important especially in developing intentions, as a source of encouragement for those who have no direct experience and can rely on the resources of their families.

While the economic one comes into play, especially in the start-up phase of a business, a transition from intention to behavior, which affects a larger slice of the population.

In line with Aldrich and Cliff (2003) , the family plays a key role in the children's enterprise, not only economically, but also by providing knowledge for new initiatives (for example, advice on how to start a business). Sometimes, even “new ideas” ( Dyer and Handler, 1994 ).

Through this work, we carry out a systematic review of the literature on the role of the family in the entrepreneurial process, using different types of bibliometric indicators and cluster analysis.

In the research and selection phase of the articles, we have used various databases of proven utility, such as Scopus, Web of Science and Business Source. Several conclusions emerged from our analysis.

From the results of the bibliometric indicators, it is a relatively recent area of study, but in continuous evolution, considering that the first articles date back to the year 1989, and from a multidisciplinary field of study, which as shown by the analysis of scientific journals, it is mainly linked to the business and management field, and even if in a smaller number, also to social and psychological sciences, economics, and engineering.

Moreover, as shown in Figure 6 , research on the role of the family in entrepreneurial activity has grown considerably, especially over the last decade with the United States of America being the country with the most publications on the topic ( n = 20).

The review also reveals that the scientific journals with the greatest number of publications on the subject is the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research ( n = 6), while the most productive author is Kaciak Eugene ( n = 4).

Regarding the analysis structure, the most important result is the fact that it is a field of study with non-sharply outlined borders that lacks systematization, probably due to its multidisciplinary character. Indeed, 90.9% of researchers contributed with only one work, this result acquired a greater intensity when it was verified that only 8 authors participated in two or more articles from the examined databases.

As for the cluster analysis, five themes have been highlighted which try to better explain the relationship between family role and entrepreneurship. Specifically, we found: (1) cultural dimension and gender issue, (2) family business and succession, (3) parental role models and entrepreneurial intention, (4) entrepreneurship and self-employment, (5) family support and women entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, the analysis also found that most of the research focused on different themes.

The cluster that obtained the highest percentage of co-occurrences is the yellow one, associated with the following keywords: entrepreneurship, self-employment, entrepreneurs, and personalities, and is also the cluster with the greatest number of relationships with other clusters, especially with family support and exposure to parental role models, emphasizing once again the importance that family has in the entrepreneurial process. On the contrary, the cluster with the lowest percentage of co-occurrences keywords is related to family business, succession, economic development, and Arabia Saudita.

This result could be a good starting point for future research, as it suggests that there are many opportunities to increase and further develop knowledge about the relationship between the role of the family and entrepreneurship. For example, it might be useful to reflect on the possible role that exposure to parental role models plays in corporate succession and analyze any differences through the comparison between entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial families. Future research could analyze how and why exposure to models of parental role, or support perceived by family members, has a different influence in different cultures and contexts, especially in disadvantaged contexts, making clear reference to Hofstede's cultural dimensions. It could reflect on why, some contexts, families emotionally support the new generations, promoting entrepreneurial behavior, even in females, while others do not, even if both belong to a stereotypically considered patriarchal culture at the macro level.

Some limitations should be noted. First, in this study, only peer-reviewed articles are considered, eliminating other types of documents, such as book chapters and conference papers. Although this is considered important for the purposes of reliability and quality of the results, it can represent a limit as part of the scientific contributions has been neglected limiting a more detailed knowledge on the research object.

Furthermore, it should be stressed that there is a tendency to mention journals that have open access. There are also journals that can be accessed through payment and that publish articles in languages other than English and Spanish. These are limitations that the reader should consider.

From a purely methodological point of view, some considerations must be made. This article focuses on a group of bibliometric indicators to examine the articles published in the selected databases. Alternative objective analysis techniques and different databases could be useful to provide a systematic description of the literature and to analyze each relevant topic concerning the support of the family from a different point of view, in order to adequately understand the research evolution and propose future research directions in a more accurate way.

Moreover, as regards cluster analysis, even if it is considered a reliable scientific method widely recognized by scholars ( Rafols et al., 2010 ) because it offers an immediate and simple interpretation of the information and the contextualization of a specific one research field, even for non-experts, the boundaries between the various clusters are not always clearly interpreted. This could derive from the fact that the same article can be part of different clusters if it contains keywords that are part of several clusters. For this reason, the mappings should not be considered as tools that provide unequivocal answers to emerging problems, but heuristic methods useful for opening plural perspectives in order to give information about a given field of research.

Furthermore, as pointed out by Rafols et al. (2012) , the analysis through maps is very complex in studies on innovation, business, and management as it provides a limited number of significant relationships that take into account the amount of keywords considered (for example, only 22 keywords were generated in this study). This result may be a limitation considering the multidisciplinary nature of the research field and the high fragmentation that characterizes specialized literature.

This study sought to define the boundaries of existing research and at the same time to bring new perspectives of future research, through theoretical and methodological suggestions, aiming to be useful for the development and discovery of new fields of study, expanding the knowledge about the relationship between family support and entrepreneurship. This is an important aspect, not only for academic research and for professionals, but for the agents responsible to promote the entrepreneurial spirit in the community, important as it emerged also in our analysis, at the micro and macro level, for human, social, and economic growth.

Author Contributions

In the contribution for this survey we describe in detail the following: GC has selected all the useful information for this review. BH-S has provided interesting details on the subject. JS-G examined the final document and the methodological protocol. The authors have decided to approve the final work and take full responsibility for the originality of the research.

This research was funded by the Board of Education of the Junta de Castilla y León (ref J424), Spain.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We thank the Chair of Entrepreneurs University of Salamanca for supporting the research and monitoring of all activities.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02939/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: entrepreneur, family support, parent role, literature review, role models

Citation: Cardella GM, Hernández-Sánchez BR and Sánchez García JC (2020) Entrepreneurship and Family Role: A Systematic Review of a Growing Research. Front. Psychol. 10:2939. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02939

Received: 19 July 2019; Accepted: 11 December 2019; Published: 10 January 2020.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2020 Cardella, Hernández-Sánchez and Sánchez García. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Brizeida Raquel Hernández-Sánchez, brizeida@usal.es

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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With the move to the digital economy and the advent of AI, data empowers small business owners to make more informed decisions. Launching and positioning a product or service is much easier given the range of available tools for market research.

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Understanding Customer Needs and Preferences

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For a small business to succeed it must know how its products and services stand against its competition. Gathering competitors’ marketing material is a fairly easy and efficient way to learn competitors’ pricing and offerings.

Conducting more formal competitive intelligence begins with identifying direct competitors and the activities of indirect and potential competitors. Various facets such as digital footprints, social metrics, and pricing policies reveal the strengths and weaknesses in the competitive landscape.

Through this investigatory process of analyzing its competition, a company can form strategies, know where potential threats are, and lay out opportunities to differentiate itself.

Types of Market Research Tools

Market research tools may be either qualitative or data-driven.

Qualitative market research tools include online survey providers like Survey Monkey , Typeform , and Google Forms .  They can be used for focus groups, crafting the right open-ended questions to gather non-numeric data.

Several data analysis tools or market research utilities are listed below. They are used to unpack large datasets and translate them into valuable actionable insights to establish effective strategies.

These research tools can be used across channels. For example, research questionnaires via email, social media, web links, and SMS shares enable businesses to cast a wide net to gather data.

What is great is businesses of all sizes can access market research tools, lowering entry and competitive barriers. A small business can conduct research in-house without draining resources or using outsourcing.

Market Research Surveys

Qualtr ics is a comprehensive market research tool enabling small businesses to create advanced surveys, allowing for detailed market segmentation and thorough data analysis.

Users can design surveys, collect responses from millions of potential respondents, and apply statistical tests and visualizations to interpret the data.

A standout feature of Qualtrics is its ability to streamline the process of finding a representative sample, making it simpler for business owners to gather information that is directly relevant to their target audience. Tailored surveys can then be created to enhance customer experiences and refine business strategies.

Market research surveys are primary data collection tools for learning product preferences, customer satisfaction, and more. Other top surveys are:

• SurveyMonkey streamlines feedback collection to enhance lead generation and customer loyalty. It offers over 200 survey templates empowering users to craft, distribute, and analyze surveys.
• Paperform is an innovative tool offering a nuanced approach to survey creation, with a free-text interface that allows customization of visual elements. It offers a unique and branded survey experience that spurs higher engagement of respondents.
• Typeform has a user-friendly interface for form creation and online surveys. Pre-made templates help businesses design surveys with different types of questions, from multiple-choice to scale ratings and open-ended answers.
• Statista Consumer Insights offers access to a variety of market research tools and proprietary survey results, providing valuable statistics, numerical data, and pre-existing market research.
• QuestionPro stands out with its ready-to-use survey templates and 24/7 support, complete with an extensive free plan for businesses getting started. 
• Qualaroo provides contextual insights with tools such as exit intent surveys, enabling businesses to grasp the ‘why’ behind user actions. Questions can be placed at key decision points to prompt insightful answers.

Evaluating market demand for specific products or services

Google Ads and SurveyMonkey provide feedback avenues for research that strengthen a business’ use to understand consumer needs and preferences.

Macroeconomic indicators, including income ranges and employment rates, are also important when assessing demand, as they help clarify the financial viability of the target consumer group for the products or services offered.

Social Media Market Research Tools

Social media market research tools are foundational for understanding brand awareness and consumer sentiment. For example, Social Mention offers real-time monitoring of brand or keyword mentions across over 100 social media platforms.

This tool distinguishes between positive and negative sentiments in social media conversations, delivering insights into how customers perceive a brand. It analyzes the volume and frequency of discussions, gauging customer engagement and buzz surrounding a company’s brand.

It provides a platform for observing industry trends and the competitive landscape, identifying sentiment and frequency of keyword mentions which reflects the community’s perception and interest in the various market competitors.

Analytics and Data Analysis Tools

Platforms like AnswerRocket leverage AI to generate quick insights, integrating with various analytical tools for greater agility in market research.

Google Analytics and similar offerings from Facebook and Twitter give a deep dive into metrics such as traffic, conversions, and engagement. Tools like H otjar track user behavior and provide heatmaps that visualize where users click and how they navigate through a website.

For use in digital market analysis, Similar Web Research Intelligence offers comprehensive insights such as competitive benchmarking and audience analysis to power data-driven decisions.

Tableau takes these capabilities further by aiding companies in visual analytics, helping them understand complex data through interactive, visual representations.

Stravito offers an intuitive, highly automated cloud service to centralize internal and external data sources, organize research and data, and quickly generate the findings that organizations need to power growth.

Tracking Website and Content Performance

Google Analytics excels at providing detailed insights into website engagement. By tracking critical metrics such as page views, bounce rates, and average session duration, small businesses see what aspects of their marketing efforts drive traffic and retain visitors.

When high-converting pages are identified, insight is gained about successful content that leads to further and improved optimization efforts for even greater performance.

Analyzing User Behavior and Demographics

Google Analytics breaks down user demographics and behaviors. This segmentation includes analysis of traffic sources, aiding companies in understanding how visitors find their site—whether through direct searches, social media, referrals, or paid ads.

Knowing the devices visitors use most often to access a website provides context to optimize the user experience across platforms. Targeting enables companies to better meet consumers’ expectations.

Insight Drives Content Marketing Strategies

Google Analytics when combined with market research tools Think with Google and B uzzSumo provides a content mix to form content marketing strategies. Insights gathered from user interactions—such as the articles they read, the products they explore, or the keywords they use in searches—equip marketers with the information needed to create highly relevant and engaging content.

Facebook Audience Insights is essential for advertising campaigns. It helps businesses boost sales and engagement by providing critical audience data for targeted marketing strategies.

Competitive Intelligence Tools

Competitive intelligence tools reveal a business’s competitive edge. They analyze competitors’ sales, trends, and customer base, providing a clearer picture of the innovations shaking up the market.

Tools to Target Audiences and Market Segments

• C laritas MyBestSegments yield in-depth demographic and lifestyle data for audience segments. Strategies can be formed to to target the most receptive consumer groups for specific campaigns or product deployments.
• Loop11 specialize in user experience testing, revealing insights into website usability and customer behavior across different devices, helping businesses to define their target audiences.
• BIT.AI offers collaboration and documentation support to streamline market research data handling.
• Remesh enables businesses to engage with focus groups comprised of thousands of individuals. Segmentation can be done based on demographic traits and response data, offering a clearer vision of who the target audience should be.
• GrowthBar is an online market research tool focusing on SEO and competitive analysis. It features keyword and competitor research, on-page SEO audits, and is accessible as a web version and a Chrome extension.

Monitoring Customer Acquisition and Conversion Rates

Qualtrics and more specialized software like Up wave analyze the effectiveness of brand advertising efforts concerning customer acquisition and conversions.

Small businesses can pinpoint exactly where and how conversions happen, and which marketing channels are the most fruitful.

This informed approach to analyzing customer data allows for fine-tuning marketing approaches, resulting in a more strategic allocation of budget and greater return on investment.

SEMrush’s Competitive analysis

SEMrush offers small business owners a robust set of tools for competitive analysis in understanding the competitive landscape of their market.

Its Organic Research tool unveils the strategies behind a competitor’s organic search presence. By highlighting which keywords competitors are ranking for and analyzing the traffic these keywords generate, SEMrush identifies gaps so that entrepreneurs in their SEO tactics discover new growth opportunities.

It includes comprehensive SEO audits offering actionable advice to gain better traffic analysis and keyword research—all foundational for a successful marketing campaign. The platform has over 40 tools for boosting online visibility and draws visitors effectively, by focusing on key areas such as SEO, PPC, SMM, and comprehensive keyword research.

A direct comparison can be made between one website’s performance and competitors, providing complete SEO audits to uncover potent keywords, and deeply analyze backlinks to identify any potential vulnerabilities of their website.

Competitor Domains and Backlink Profiles

Ahrefs and SEMrush’s integrated API solutions such as Tray.io and R ank Ranger offer great insights into competitors’ domains and backlink profiles.

Small business owners can gauge the strength and strategies behind a competitor’s backlink profile. This type of analysis reveals the quantity and the quality of the links directed towards competing websites. This yields potential partnerships or link-building opportunities for one’s site.

Knowing the intricacies of competitors’ SEO strategies provides important metrics to understand market positioning against industry rivals. SEMrush’s EyeOn tool goes further with real-time monitoring of a competitor’s online activities, covering every angle from content deployment to advertisement strategies and social media engagement.

Competitive intelligence tools such as Traffic Analytics and EyeOn enable businesses to grasp the essence of their competitors’ digital presence. The goal is to adapt quickly to these evolving market tides ensuring the company is not left behind in the rush for market share.

These components of the competitive landscape empower small businesses to compete through strategic market analysis, showing where profits can be enhanced, sales trends maximized, and customer behavior optimally targeted.

Small businesses as never before have access to market research that in the past only large companies used. By selecting key tools, the company can confidently move forward toward a sustainable and profitable business.

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Research & Creative Activities

The california nanosystems institute announces the noble family innovation fund letter of intent solicitation.

• Yaneth Mora Lopez
• March 17, 2021
• Opportunities

The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) at UCLA is currently accepting letters of intent (LOIs) for their newly established seed funding program the Noble Family Innovation Fund. The Noble Family Innovation Fund will focus on identifying, supporting and accelerating high‐risk, high‐reward research, from basic to translational, with promise for commercialization and societal impact. The goal is to create a model for academic research and entrepreneurship that enables strategic investment to seed discoveries that have the potential to be translated for the public good.

LOIs must be submitted via email to  [email protected]  with the header “Noble Family Innovation Fund LOI” by Thursday, April 15, 2021. 

Please see the CNSI website or the LOI program solicitation for details about the program's objectives, eligibility requirements, and LOI submission guidelines.  

(310) 825-7943 [email protected]

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People with ADHD are turning to AI apps to help with tasks. Experts say try it cautiously

Entrepreneur Becky Litvintchouk works on her computer at a co-working space on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Entrepreneur Becky Litvintchouk makes a call at a co-working space on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

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Becky Litvintchouk didn’t think she’d be able to manage the mountain of tasks needed to become an entrepreneur. Every other part of her life has been overwhelming because of ADHD , which can impact her ability to concentrate.

So, she turned to AI. The app Claude helps her decide which contracts made the most sense for her hygienic-wipes business, GetDirty, without having to read them word for word. She also created business plans by telling the generative AI bot what her goals were and having it create steps for her to get there.

“It’s been just massively instrumental. I probably would not be where I am today,” she said of using AI for about two years.

Experts say generative AI tools can help people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — who experience difficulties with focusing, organizing and controlling impulses — to get through tasks quicker. But they also caution that it shouldn’t replace traditional treatment for ADHD, and also expressed concerns about potential overreliance and invasion of privacy.

Will apps replace ADHD treatment?

Emily Kircher-Morris, a counselor who focuses on neurodivergent patients, said she’s seen the tools be useful to her clients with ADHD. She even uses them herself since she has ADHD.

Her clients, she said, seem to have varying levels of comfort with the idea of using AI. But for those who take to the technology, “it really can help to hook people in, like, ‘Oh, this is kind of a fancy new thing that catches my interest. And so I really want to dig in and explore it.’”

This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.

She also said it’s good to use caution. John Mitchell, an associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine, added that AI apps should be used more as “one tool in a toolbox” instead of replacing traditional treatments such as developing organizational skills or taking prescription medications.

“If you’re kind of treading water in your job and AI’s a life preserver, well, that’s great you’re staying above water, but, you know, you still don’t know how to swim,” he said.

What else can the apps do?

Litvintchouk, a married mother of four living in New York City, dropped out of high school and left the workforce — all things that research shows are more likely to happen to people with ADHD, putting them at higher risk of economic instability.

Aside from helping with her business, she uses ChatGPT to help with grocery shopping — another thing that can be fraught for people with ADHD because of the organization and planning skills needed — by having it brainstorm easy-to-prepare recipes with a corresponding grocery list.

When she shared her technique with another mom who also has ADHD, she felt more people needed to know about it, so she started creating videos on TikTok about various AI tools she uses to help manage her ADHD struggles.

“That’s when I was like, you know what? I need to, like, educate people,” she said.

Generative AI tools can help people with ADHD break down big tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. Chatbots can offer specific advice and can sound like you’re talking with a human. Some AI apps can also help with reminders and productivity.

Software engineer Bram de Buyser, said he created Goblin.tools with his neurodivergent friends in mind. Its most popular feature is the “magic to-do,” where a user can enter a task and the bot will spit out a to-do list. They can even break down items on the list into smaller tasks.

“I’m not trying to build a cure,” he said, “but something that helps them out (for) two minutes out of the day that they would otherwise struggle with.”

What kinds of problems could apps create?

Husson University professor Russell Fulmer describes the research around AI and ADHD as “inconclusive.” While experts say they see how artificial intelligence could have a positive impact on the lives of people with anxiety and ADHD, Fulmer said, it may not work perfectly for everyone, like people of color with ADHD.

He pointed to chatbot responses that have been racist and biased at times .

Valese Jones, a publicist and founder of Sincerely Nicole Media, was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and uses AI bots to help with reading and responding to emails and proofreading public relations plans. But its responses don’t always capture who she really is.

“I’m southern, so I talk like a southerner. There are cadences in my writing where you can kind of pick up on the fact that I’m southern, and that’s on purpose,” said Jones, who is Black. “It doesn’t pick up on Black women’s tone, and if you do put in like, ‘say it like African American,’ it automatically goes to talking like ‘Malibu’s Most Wanted.’”

And de Buyser said while he sees a future where AI chatbots function more like a personal assistant that is “never tired, never sleeps,” it could also have privacy implications.

“If you say, ‘Oh, I want an AI that gives me personal information and checks my calendar’ and all of that, you are giving that big company access to your emails, your calendar, personal correspondence, essentially your deepest, darkest secrets just so it can give you something useful back,” he warned.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Students Impress in 2024 UREP Project Presentations

Libby Sullivan | May 14, 2024

Undergraduate student research continues to thrive at New York Tech, with the 30 College of Engineering and Computing Sciences students showcasing their projects on May 9 as part of the  Undergraduate Research and Entrepreneurship Program  (UREP) providing the most recent evidence.

Presenting their projects on topics ranging from developing green roofing systems for urban agriculture and using AI in dentistry to building robots to mitigate unsolved home invasions, studying the impact of flash floods on electric vehicles in New York City, and much more, the eight teams comprising students from both New York campuses highlighted the findings of their group research or entrepreneurship projects conducted under the guidance of faculty mentors. UREP provides each team with $500 to cover the cost of supplies and materials; the projects can run for a single semester or extend to multiple semesters for teams pursuing further development. 

Since the spring of 2018, more than 300 students have participated in this program established by Associate Professor   Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D. , who welcomed faculty, staff, students, and other attendees to the seventh annual event.   

Addressing the student participants, Dean  Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D. , said, “All of you have had a chance to work closely with the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences faculty in an undergraduate research project, which is a really valuable experience for you personally and professionally, and an amazing thing to put on your résumé for whatever pursuit that you have in mind after graduation.”  

Teams featured undergraduate students, ranging from first through fourth year, and from programs including computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering. Most teams were co-ed. Presented projects included:

2024 UREP Projects and Teams

• Comparative Study of Hydroponic Plant-Disease Detection Systems Team members: Joseann Boneo, Best Justus, Alysar Tabet Faculty mentor:  Houwei Cao, Ph.D.
• Identifying Dental Cavities from X-Ray Images Using Cnn Team members: Sarah Allrozamo, Tanuza Abdin, Hannah Ocampo Faculty mentor:  Huanying (Helen) Gu, Ph.D.
• Thermoacoustic Refrigeration Team members: Sheikh Ahmar, Jericho Lee, Ernesto Rosas Romero Faculty mentor:  James Scire, Ph.D.
• Home Invasion Detection and Prevention Team members: Shan Caballes, Dani Gulino, D’ron Strapp, T’ron Strapp Faculty mentor: Kirti Mishra, Ph.D.
• Level Crossing Analog to Digital Converter Representation Using Chebyshev Polynomials Team members: Pavan Kanakkassery, Emilio Santana-Ferro, Damian Sarjudas Faculty mentor:  N. Sertac Artan, Ph.D.
• AI Detection in Creative Writing Team members: Elijah Ewers, Vighanesh Gaund, Cheuk Tung Ho, Wedad Mortada, Tanat Sahta   Faculty mentor:  Wenjia Li, Ph.D.
• Interactive Visualization Tool for NYC Open Data Team members: Ali Elshehawi, Ali Khachab, Guang Wei Too, Alan Yuan Faculty mentor:  Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D.
• A Study on the Current Effects of Flash Floods in NYC on Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Team members: Mekan Agahanov, Angily Ally, Isha Kaur, Ishaan Singh Faculty mentor: Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D.

Beheshti noted that the variety and depth of the projects speak to the hard work that the teams have put in. He recognized and thanked the faculty mentors and reiterated to the students the importance of this experience gained by “handling an open-ended problem, outside of your classroom, that you owned, and you managed to take from an idea to a concept” and beyond.

An Alumnus’ Commitment to the Environment

Energy management graduate Jasdeep Gulati (M.S. ’22) is highly invested in educating people about environmental and climate sustainability.

Vancouver Faculty Win University-Sponsored Research Awards in New Program

Studying Climate Change One Degree at a Time

Junhua Qu (M.S. ’24) began her collegiate journey in Beijing. But, her interest in climate change took her to New York Tech’s Vancouver campus to study energy management.

An Alumnus Takes Down Barriers to Eye Care

Optometrist Dean Hart, OD (B.S. ’82), dedicates his time to service and humanitarianism, donating his resources to provide eye care for those in need.

Growing Long Island’s Tech Workforce

Alongside major partner Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York Tech is educating leaders for this booming technology corridor.

D.O.s and scientists from around the world traveled joined NYITCOM for the inaugural Conference on Osteopathic Research and Knowledge (CORK).

Thirty years of entrepreneurship research published in top journals: analysis of citations, co-citations and themes

• Open access
• Published: 19 August 2015
• Volume 5 , article number  17 , ( 2015 )

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• Manuel P. Ferreira 1 , 2 ,
• Nuno R. Reis 3 &
• Rui Miranda 3  

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Entrepreneurship research has increased markedly over the past three decades. In this paper we conduct a large scale survey of the literature beyond a subjective perspective on what entrepreneurship research has comprised. We investigate what have been the intellectual structure and the knowledge base underlying published entrepreneurship research. Moreover, we also conduct a longitudinal analysis of the main research themes that have caught scholars’ efforts. Using bibliometric techniques on a sample of 1,777 articles published in 17 top ranked journals, between 1981 and 2010, we conduct analyses of citations, co-citations and co-occurrences to examine the most central works, themes and how they intertwine. Results provide evidence of the increasing interest in entrepreneurship as a field of study, but also of its interdisciplinary nature, with infusions of concepts and theories from a wide array of management disciplines. This paper provides a brief but extensive rear view of the field useful for both doctoral students and newcomers to the discipline develop their own research agendas.

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Entrepreneurship research has evolved markedly over the past three decades and has grown from an embryonic and fragmented state (Shane and Venkataraman 2000 ; Busenitz et al. 2003 ; Zahra 2005 ; Schildt et al. 2006 ), with its legitimacy being questioned (Low and MacMillan, 1988 ), to a maturing field of study (Meyer et al. 2012 ; Busenitz et al. 2014 ; van Burg and Romme 2014 ). The increasing attention to new venture creation and innovation in small firms as drivers of economic growth, new educational programs in entrepreneurship and an increase in public policies supporting entrepreneurial endeavors has brought entrepreneurship to the forefront of a growing community of scholars’ attention. Accompanying the increased scholarly attention, the number of dedicated outlets publishing entrepreneurship-related research has also risen and new journals have been created (e.g., Journal of Business Venturing , Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and more recently Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal , among others) promoting the emancipation of the field (Busenitz et al., 2003 ).

As entrepreneurship research accumulates it is important to periodically conduct different forms of literature reviews and bibliometric studies to grasp the accumulated knowledge (Busenitz et al. 2014 ; Ferreira et al. 2014 ). This involves identifying what has been made and what is already known, the streams and trajectories on the progression of entrepreneurship as a discipline (Zahra 2005 ; Schildt et al. 2006 ), as a departing point from which new arenas may be uncovered (Busenitz et al. 2014 ). Even if some attempts of understanding the current state of entrepreneurship research exist (e.g., Schildt et al. 2006 ; Teixeira, 2011 ; Campbell and Mitchell 2012 ; Busenitz et al. 2014 ), the field of entrepreneurship is still far from well mapped or understood. Therefore, it is useful to dissect what is known by looking into the stock of knowledge produced.

In this paper we seek to outline a broad description of the entrepreneurship field by identifying its main works and themes researched and how they are interconnected. We also aim at providing a brief outlook on the evolution by examining the research emphasis. In bibliometry we refer to the identification of the intellectual structure of the field and its knowledge base. To this aim, we conducted a bibliometric study of a large sample of articles published in 17 highly ranked journals on entrepreneurship or that publish entrepreneurship research over an extended period of time (1981 to 2010). In a sample of 1,777 articles, we conducted several bibliometric analyses. First, we described the track record of publications. Second, we performed an authorship analysis to identify the most prolific authors. Third, we analyzed citations and co-citations. Finally, we ascertained what were the most salient research themes in entrepreneurship during 1993 to 2010 and how the themes have evolved, by delving into the author-supplied keywords to proxy research themes.

This study contributes perhaps more especially to newcomers to the field and doctoral students, by putting forward a review of the literature, based on empirical bibliometric data, that provides a grasp of the past developments to the current state of development of the discipline. Equipped with the understanding of the accumulated knowledge, its core works, the intellectual structure and the knowledge base of the field (see also Landström et al. 2012 ) novel research agendas may be envisioned.

Hence, this study does not aim at prescribing how entrepreneurship research ought to develop, nor to propose what is the future of research in the field. We seek to gain a broad understanding of how the field has developed – or it’s past. We are able to provide empirical evidence on the evolution of the field, its core works, themes delved into and conversations. We confirm prior studies noting the diversity of conceptual emphasis. These highlight what were the conceptual streams that have prevailed in the field. Hence we complement other bibliometric studies and literature reviews that targeted specific aspects by adopting a longer timespan, a larger number of journals and articles, and a different set of analyses. For instance, Ratnatunga and Romano ( 1997 ) conducted a citation analysis of the articles published on small enterprise research. Shane ( 2000 ) studied scholars and universities that publish on entrepreneurship. Cornelius et al. ( 2006 ) examined the research fronts in entrepreneurship and Schildt et al. ( 2006 ) identified the research communities. Meyer et al. ( 2012 ) examined the main clusters of researched assessed by coding the keywords and titles of the articles to find five clusters. Busenitz et al. ( 2014 ) delved into ten years of research (2000–2009) and classified entrepreneurship research in four groups observing a modest increase in opportunities-driven studies. Alvarez et al. ( 2012 ) focused on examining research based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report, finding that institutional theory has become a major conceptual framework. And Jing et al. ( 2014 ) contrasted entrepreneurship research in the US, Europe and China, identifying differences in the paths followed. Hence, albeit other bibliometric studies in entrepreneurship exist, we are unaware of any study following a similar approach, with a large dataset, an extended period of time, comprising structural and longitudinal analyses and delving both on the intellectual structure and the knowledge base of the field.

The field of entrepreneurship

Early research on entrepreneurship may be traced back to the first half of the 20 th century, and to works such as those by Knight ( 1921 ) and Schumpeter ( 1934 ) but has much increased since then. There have been some attempts to make sense of the extant entrepreneurship research and foresee future research trends. The first effort to unify and advance research dates to the 1980s with the Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship (Kent et al., 1982 ) and the review of multiple aspects of entrepreneurship, ranging from psychological and social perspectives to the economic effects, and future directions for research, teaching and practice. Churchill and Lewis ( 1986 ) analyzed the articles published between 1981 and 1984 to classify entrepreneurship research according to the objectives, methodologies and topics. Low and MacMillan ( 1988 ) used a six items research design specification to understand how entrepreneurship had been studied thus far: purpose, theoretical perspective, focus, level of analysis, time frame and methodology. Low and Macmillan ( 1988 ) acknowledged the shortcomings of entrepreneurship research and called for theory-driven research. Later, Shane and Venkataraman ( 2000 ) advanced the three main pillars of entrepreneurship research: the opportunities (including the sources, discovery, assessment and exploitation) and the entrepreneurs (the individuals which seek, discover, assess and exploit the opportunities), positing research should be developed along these avenues.

More recently, a number of scholars have reviewed extant research to take stock of what is known, observing the fragmentation of the field (e.g., van Burg et al. 2013 ). The entrepreneurship field is posited to have permeable boundaries which hinder the legitimation of the field (Busenitz et al. 2003 ) despite being an increasingly autonomous discipline (Teixeira 2011 ). Nevertheless, entrepreneurship research denotes a strong influence of theoretical approaches borrowed from other social sciences (Landström et al. 2012 ). Literature reviews have also revealed a substantial growth in the number of papers published in the last decade as well as the dominance of Anglo-Saxon researchers (Landström et al. 2012 ). Notwithstanding, European and Chinese scholars are becoming increasingly interested in entrepreneurship research and take advantage of local idiosyncrasies in their research (Jing et al. 2014 ).

While an overview of major research streams is not needed, we point here just a few of the core streams of thought that have permeated entrepreneurship studies. Entrepreneurship research analyzes a wide range of topics and phenomena, ranging from the antecedents to the outcomes and the entrepreneurship process. For instance, entrepreneurial opportunities have been delved into from a number of perspectives (Busenitz et al. 2003 ; Busenitz et al. 2014 ). The issues of opportunity perception – either creating, identifying or recognizing – and opportunity exploitation – including the evaluation of opportunity – have warranted scholars’ research attention (van Burg et al. 2013 ). Some studies go beyond perception and exploitation to assess the outcomes of opportunities (van Burg et al. 2013 ). Other approaches include the individual perception of opportunities which place a particular emphasis on knowledge and prior experience (Short et al. 2010 ). Although we may identify classical works which emphasize opportunities as the core of entrepreneurial activity (e.g., Kirzner 1973 ), opportunities have once been considered “the most neglected question in the entrepreneurship literature” (Venkataraman 1997 , p. 122). However the situation has changed and we may observe a modest increase for instance in opportunities-related research (for a detailed analysis, please see Busenitz et al., 2014 ).

The early stages of entrepreneurship were also analyzed, especially the “nascent entrepreneurship” stages (Bergmann et al. 2013 ). The nascent entrepreneurs are those still struggling to start their venture or whose business is still not fully operational (Reynolds 2005 ). Ascertaining the key challenges and outcomes of nascent entrepreneurs, their success and especially what drives an individual to start a new venture are some of the questions this stream of research has sought to examine (Reynolds 2005 ; Bergmann et al. 2013 ).

Another stream of research has focused on the entrepreneurial networks, often conceptually supported on social networks theory but perhaps more notably taking the more practitioners view of examining how entrepreneurial activity is propelled by the individuals’ social networks, which are in essence different from non-entrepreneurial networks (Granovetter 1985 ), and the value of the entrepreneurs’ networks for the initial stages of the firms’ life cycle. The networks have been shown to be crucial for accessing knowledge (e.g., opportunity recognition) and a variety of resources (financial, technical, physical, informational, reputation) and are thus crucial to the success of the new venture. This approach shares some ties to the resource-based and knowledge-based views (Alvarez and Busenitz 2001 ).

Corporate entrepreneurship (see, for instance, Zahra and Covin 1995 ) – or intrapreneurship, as coined by Pinchot in the late 1970s – is yet another relevant stream of thought. Intrapreneurship may be defined as proactively innovating by introducing new processes and developing new processes and venturing into new businesses to create shareholder value, is deemed vital for established firms to survive and revitalize (Pinchot, 1985 ; Zahra and Covin 1995 ). Analyzing entrepreneurship at the level of the firm arguably allows for a better understanding of the value creation process and it is possible to grasp corporate entrepreneurship contribution to firms’ capabilities and competencies (Alvarez and Busenitz 2001 ).

Entrepreneurship has also been delved into from an international business perspective (McDougall and Oviatt 2000 ; Oviatt and McDougall, 2005 ; Schildt et al. 2006 ). International entrepreneurship scholars have focused specifically on the “combination of innovative, proactive and risk-seeking behavior that crosses national borders and is intended to create value in organizations” (McDougall and Oviatt 2000 , p. 903). In fact, international entrepreneurship research is strongly influenced by the born global phenomenon - those firms which “from inception, [seek] to derive significant competitive advantage from the use of resources and the sale of outputs in multiple countries” (Oviatt and McDougall 1994 , p. 49).

Finally, a stream of research has analyzed the effects of the entrepreneurial activity on the external environment. Arguably one of the first systematic attempts was Wilken’s ( 1979 ) model to describe a causal relation between entrepreneurship and economic growth. Entrepreneurship is posited to have an important impact on job creation (e.g., Birch, 1987 ) and this claim became conventional wisdom to the point of influencing policy making (Neumark et al., 2011 ). Beyond job creation, entrepreneurship is posited to have an effect on knowledge spillovers and consequently on wealth creation (Audretsch and Feldman 1996 ). Thus entrepreneurship is posited to have a significant impact on economic growth, including on regional and national policy studies (e.g., Audretsch and Feldman 1996 ).

Bibliometric studies rely on the measurement of scientific activity employing statistical procedures (Broadus, 1987 ) to quantify, classify and organize the extant research in a field (White & McCain, 1998 ). The main advantage of bibliometry compared to other methods is that it permits a largely unbiased view of a field of study, that other forms of literature reviews may bring (Garfield, 1979 ). And, although there is no single technique for conducting a bibliometric study, the most common procedures involve examining citations, co-citations and co-occurrences of keywords.

Data and sample

The procedures to identify the sample involved three stages. The first stage comprised of selecting the journals. We selected journals following a set of criteria: the high ranked journals using Ann-Will Harzing’s ‘Journal quality list’ ( 2011 ), ISI and Scopus impact factors, and also the selection of journals in prior bibliometric studies (e.g., Schildt et al. 2006 ; Landström et al. 2012 ; Álvarez et al. 2012 ; Busenitz et al. 2014 , Jing et al. 2014 ). We selected 17 journals, both generalist in management and dedicated entrepreneurship journals which are indexed in ISI web of knowledge. It is worth noting that we included Strategic Entrepreneurship JournaI (SEJ) that albeit a recent journal (founded in 2007) with a short track record already has an ISI 5-year impact factor of 2, denoting that it will likely grow to a core outlet in the field.

The second stage required defining the time frame of the analysis. To encapsulate a large portion of the research to conduct longitudinal analysis we selected 1981 to 2010. The initial year is somewhat arbitrary but we noted that up to the beginning of the nineties there were relatively few articles. According to Meyer et al. ( 2012 ) the field grew during the 1990s and reached a maturing state in the 00s. Moreover, this timespan is ten years longer than the recent review by Busenitz et al. ( 2014 ).

The third stage in building the sample comprised using ISI Web of Knowledge , and the search engine Web of Science to identify the articles. This database has been used in many prior bibliometric studies (Schildt et al. 2006 ; Furrer et al. 2008 ; Meyer et al. 2012 ; Ferreira et al. 2014 ; Busenitz et al. 2014 ) and holds greater prestige than alternatives such as Scopus. In searching the database we used the search terms (or keywords) of Busenitz et al. ( 2003 ): entrepreneur* , entrepreneurial* , entrepreneurship* , small business , new ventures and founders . The asterisk permits capturing other variations of the wording. Meyer et al. ( 2012 ) for instance, used only a truncated form: “entrep”. Finally, we manually screened all articles by reading at least the title or abstract and keywords.

Using these procedures we had a final sample of 1,777 articles, with the largest contributors being dedicated entrepreneurship journals – Journal of Business Venturing ( n  = 413), Small Business Economics ( n  = 326), Journal of Small Business Management ( n  = 192), Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice ( n  = 177) -, although also with a significant contribution from the Strategic Management Journal ( n  = 88) (see Table 4 in Appendix).

Procedures of analyses

In examining the data we performed three types of analyses: citations, co-citations and co-occurrences. These procedures permit identifying the structure binding works (and theories) and themes researched.

Citation analysis

Citation analyses rely on counting the number of times any given work is referenced by other scholars in their own works, and thus assess its impact, or influence, in the community (White and McCain, 1998 ). Citing prior works is a crucial norm in scientific endeavors based on the rationale that scholars cite other works that are relevant to their own research. Albeit citations may be made with a variety of purposes, it is a common practice, although not free from known criticisms (e.g., Bornmann and Daniel 2008 ), the use of citation data to assess a scholar’s impact on a given discipline or field (Culnan 1987 ; Tahai and Meyer 1999 ).

Co-citation analysis

A co-citation analysis examines pairs of works and assesses the frequency with which they are cited together, or co-cited, in other works (Culnan 1987 ). Moreover, co-citation analyses are based on the premise that if a given pair of works is co-cited it is because they share some content, or intellectual, similarity (White and Griffith 1981 ; White and McCain 1998 ; Ponzi 2002 ; Ferreira et al. 2014 ). For instance, if two articles X and Y were cited by another article we may reasonably assume that X and Y are somewhat related. Thus, the more frequently a set of papers is co-cited in the extant research the stronger is the tie binding them and the more proximate they are (White and McCain 1998 ). Thus, co-citation analyses allow researchers to understand the structure of the social networks in a more objective manner than would possible in other forms of literature reviews. We depict the co-citation matrixes visually in a network to reveal the social structure of the field.

Analysis of the research themes

The third procedure entailed examining the themes, or phenomena, researched over the period and their relative centrality in the discipline. Usually such analysis would entail a content analysis, possibly subjective, which is unviable using a sample of 1,777 articles. To this aim we followed the procedure of Furrer et al. ( 2008 ) method for inferring research themes from the author-supplied keywords by grouping the author-supplied keywords into broader categories. We designed a list of 25 major research themes based on Schildt et al. ( 2006 ) identification of the main themes in entrepreneurship studies (see Table 5 in Appendix - complete coding available from the authors upon request). Schildt et al. ( 2006 ) list has the advantage of being inclusive of the major themes in entrepreneurship research. Perhaps using the author-supplied keywords is a rather stringent manner to observe themes, but it is reasonable to suggest that it is an accurate manner since the authors select the keywords to best describe what their paper is about to potential readers and for indexing purposes.

This procedure involved, first, retrieving the author-supplied keywords from all articles in the sample. We obtained a total of 3,880 keywords (it is worth noting that this analysis was conducted for the period 1991 to 2010 since ISI Web of Knowledge does not contain the keywords for articles published prior to 1991). Then, two coders (full time graduate research assistants) were given instructions and were asked to independently allocate each keyword to each of the 25 broad themes. Jointly, the sample included 3,880 keywords. Any discrepancies were resolved between the coders and the assistance of the principal investigator. Methodologically, in Bibexcel the author-supplied keywords were replaced by the themes and a new co-occurrence matrix was generated for running a social network analysis.

All data was retrieved from SSCI ISI WoK and organized using the software Bibexcel (available at www.umu.se/inforsk/Bibexcel ), and we used the social networks software Ucinet to draw the visual network displays. These maps are based on the matrixes of co-citations of references and of co-occurrences of keywords. The visual displays are intended to facilitate the identification and interpretation of the structure underlying a group of works.

The analyses of the data follow the sequence: evolution of publication and geographic origin, citations analysis, co-citations, and the main research themes.

Evolution of entrepreneurship research

There has been a clear upward trend in the number of publications in entrepreneurship (Fig.  1 ), as assessed by the number of articles published. A sharp increase around 1991 was followed by a second surge in 2002, but over 50 % of the articles were published in the last 6 years, between 2005 and 2010. This trend has been fuelled by the founding of new outlets, research centers, masters and doctoral studies on entrepreneurship, and the ability of entrepreneurship scholars to take their works into the top tier management journals. The founding of new journals is a signal that the discipline is maturing (van Burg et al. 2013 ) and gaining status in management research (Busenitz et al. 2014 ). It is worth noting that four of the journals were relatively recently included in SSCI, even if some are much older: Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (2001), Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice (2003), International Small Business Journal (2003) and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal (2007).

Evolution of publications (articles per year): 1981–2010. Source: Data collected from ISI Web of Knowledge. Computations by the authors

The articles in the sample were (co)authored by 2,290 scholars from 63 nations. Three countries account for 66 % of all authors: the US (44.7 %), UK (304 authors, 13.3 %) and Canada (181, 7.9 %). Noteworthy is the absence, or under-representation, of emerging economies, such as India (7 articles), Mexico (1), and Brazil (0), where entrepreneurship research has made substantial progress, and of the majority of African countries. A possible explanation may reside in the difficulties in non-English speaking countries in writing an article in English at a level of quality warranted by the outlets sampled.

Most influential works

Table  1 identifies the 30 most influential, or most cited, works in our sample. Schumpeter’s ( 1934 ) seminal work – The theory of economic development – with his thoughts on the role of the entrepreneur in driving innovations is the most cited (235 citations). A number of the works in the table debate what is the field of entrepreneurship, its domain and raison d’être, defining and establishing the boundaries of the field (Gartner 1985 ; Lumpkin and Dess 1996 ; Venkataraman 1997 ; Shane and Venkataraman 2000 ). Other works review the existing literature (e.g., Low and Macmillan 1988 ). We may also observe a significant number of works on the role of the entrepreneur in starting new ventures (Knight 1921 ; Kirzner 1973 ; Evans and Jovanovic 1989 ; Vesper 1990 ; Burt 1992 ; Aldrich 1999 ; Shane 2000 ) and others focusing opportunities (Kirzner 1973 ; Venkataraman 1997 ; Shane 2000 ).

This data is further revealing of the diverse theoretical background, or multidisciplinarity, of entrepreneurship studies: Resource-Based View (Penrose 1959 ; Barney 1991 ), Social networks (Granovetter 1985 ; Burt 1992 ), Agency theory (Jensen and Meckling 1976 ), Learning (Nelson and Winter 1982 ; Cohen and Levinthal 1990 ), Resource dependence (Pfeffer and Salancik 1978 ). Interestingly, other works with high impact are revealing of methodological concerns, such as Eisenhardt ( 1989 ) on case studies, and Nunnally ( 1978 ) on statistical procedures and details.

We further conducted a longitudinal citation analysis (Table  2 ) to observe possible shifts of research over time and to grasp the influence of different works and theories over time. Table  2 reveals the data in four periods: 1981–1990, 1991–2000, 2001–2005 and 2006–2010. Having shorter periods in more recent years permits better observing shifts and seems appropriate given the upward trend in publications especially from the 1990s onwards. Observing Table  2 , we identify some evolution in the most influential works, and the citation counts are a reflection of the contexts and theories that were more salient during the periods. For instance, in the first period (1981–1990) we see the impact of early approaches to entrepreneurship (such as Schumpeter 1934 ; Brockhaus 1982 ; Vesper 1990 ), and an important representation of classical strategic management-related works (e.g., Chandler, 1962 ; Miles and Snow 1978 ; Mintzberg 1979 ; Porter 1980 ). Over time we perceive an increasing influence of entrepreneurship-specific works (such as Kirzner 1973 ; Low and MacMillan 1988 ; Lumpkin and Dess 1996 ; Venkataraman 1997 ; Shane and Venkataraman 2000 ; Shane 2000 ). This is a signal of the maturing of the field as it finds its distinctive raison d’être .

From a theoretic standpoint, the evolution revealed in Table  2 , shows an increase in the influence of theories of the firm (e.g., Cyert and March 1963 ; Williamson, 1975 ; Porter 1980 ; Nelson and Winter 1982 ) and a decrease in the influence of psychology-related theories (e.g., McClelland 1961 ). Moreover, the more recent periods have a strong influence of resource- (e.g., Penrose 1959 ; Barney 1991 ; Busenitz and Barney 1997 ) and capabilities-related references (Cohen and Levinthal 1990 ; Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven 1990 ). That is, after the 1990s - after Barney’s ( 1991 ) article – more entrepreneurship research started incorporating RBV lenses thus focusing on the pool of resources, competences and capabilities of the new ventures. Hence, a longitudinal examination of the citations frequencies unveils some relevant shifts.

Intellectual structure of the field

The intellectual structure of a field may be depicted visually in a co-citation network (White and Griffith, 1981 ; White and McCain, 1998 ). In drawing the network we selected only the 30 works more often cited, from a list of more than 50,000 works cited, since a larger number would not render an intelligible figure. In reading the figure note that, first, the ties linking works represent a co-citation between a pair of authors, and the thicker the ties the more frequently two works are co-cited. Second, the size of the circle reflects citation frequency. Moreover, the software is dynamic and places at the center of the network the works that are more cited. Similarly, the pairs of works will be placed more proximate or more apart according to the co-citation frequency.

Figure  2 shows at the core, thus bearing greater impact, Schumpeter’s ( 1934 ) work, in close proximity with Kirzner ( 1973 ) on entrepreneurship and competitiveness, and Shane and Venkataraman ( 2000 ) on entrepreneurial opportunities. This relative proximity signifies a strong research emphasis on the entrepreneur as the innovator who identifies opportunities to make a profit. Barney ( 1991 ) and Penrose ( 1959 ) are also central, indicating that resource- and capabilities-based explanations have been frequent. The network comprises several other seminal works and although those works positioned in the outer layers are important, they matter relatively less for the overall set of works. Finally, the various theoretical perspectives may be perceived as a sign of the youth of the discipline (Shane and Venkataraman 2000 ; van Burg & Romme, 2014 ).

Co-citation network. Source: Data collected from ISI Web of Knowledge. Drawn with Ucinet

Main research themes

Finally, we examined the themes that entrepreneurship researchers have studied. Figure  3 displays the network binding themes and their relative centrality. At the center of the network are the five most often studied themes: “ Entrepreneurial process ”, “ Environmental and external determinants of entrepreneurship ”, “ Value creation and performance ” and “ Methods, theories and research issues ”.

Major themes. Note: Frequency of the themes in Table 5 in Appendix. Source: Data collected from ISI Web of Knowledge. Drawn with Ucinet

Other themes have also been relevant, such as “ Psychological, cognitive and individual characteristics ”, “ Entrepreneurial resources ”, “ Entrepreneurial networks ”, “ High-tech entrepreneurship ”, “ Corporate venturing and business competition ”, and “ Entry modes, international, born-global and MNE ” but are positioned in a second ring. In the outer layer, signaling less emphasis, are such themes as “ Entrepreneurial opportunity ”, “ Entrepreneurial family business ”, and “ Human resource management ”.

Longitudinal perspective on the research themes

To assess possible shifts in scholars’ emphasis, we conducted a longitudinal analysis on the themes for three periods: 1991–2000, 2001–2005 and 2006–2010. Table  3 depicts the most frequent ten themes for each period. The shifts are substantial albeit some themes have received constant interest, such as the “ Entrepreneurial process ”, “ Environmental determinants of entrepreneurship ” and, on a second tier, also ” High-tech entrepreneurship ”, probably accompanying the success of technology-based start-ups since the 1990s.

Methodological and theoretical issues were also central in the past two decades possibly reflecting the maturing of the field and a concern with more accurate empirical studies. The attention to methodological aspects is revealing of the effort to move the discipline beyond descriptive and case study-based approaches that marked its beginning. We may also observe an increase in research dealing with “ Psychological, cognitive and individual characteristics ” of entrepreneurs suggesting an interest on the individual processes of detecting and exploiting opportunities. On the other hand, “ Corporate venturing ” and “ Industry analysis ” have lost comparative importance in entrepreneurship research.

This analysis is also important in identifying the topics that were comparatively less explored, and possibly warrant further research. For instance, the themes “Entrepreneurial family business” and “Leadership and top management teams” have been somewhat overlooked or have lost importance over the last years. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that some of these themes on the outer layers have grown in importance in current studies, despite not being among the top research themes. For instance, the aspects pertaining to “Small and medium enterprises” also as a result of an increasing research attention to “Family businesses”.

In this study we combine three facets: an identification of the “must read” works on entrepreneurship, a structural analysis of the intellectual ties, and a longitudinal analysis of how research endeavors have shifted over time. Using objective metrics and defining a set of methodological procedures we provide an objective and unbiased account of the literature published over a period of thirty years. To the best of our knowledge this is the largest scale bibliometric studies conducted on the field and complements existing bibliometric and literature reviews (e.g., Ratnatunga and Romano 1997 ; Shane 2000 ; Cornelius et al. 2006 ; Schildt et al. 2006 ; Teixeira 2011 ; Meyer et al. 2012 ; Busenitz et al. 2014 ) in providing a depiction of the intellectual structure of entrepreneurship research, its knowledge foundations, core literature, theories and the topics that defined the field over the past decades. This study is thus especially useful for doctoral students and researchers newly arrived to the discipline.

Brief review of the knowledge base

Our analyses provide munificent data to examine the accumulated knowledge. A synthesis of all developments is unviable but a brief analysis based on the most cited works (Table  1 ), co-citation network (Fig.  2 ) and themes (Fig.  3 and Table  3 ) is interesting in summarizing the knowledge base and emphasis of research of the field.

Examining the intellectual structure Schumpeter’s ( 1934 ) emerged at the core of the knowledge base, revealing the high status of Schumpeter’s work to the discipline. The remaining network includes several seminal pieces of management theories, such as Stinchcombe ( 1965 ), Penrose ( 1959 ), Barney ( 1991 ), Nelson and Winter ( 1982 ) and Porter ( 1980 ) (see Fig.  2 ). These are evidence that the intellectual structure of entrepreneurship research shows great theoretical diversity and has used many of the mainstream management theories, such as social networks (Granovetter 1985 ; Aldrich and Zimmer 1986 ), resource dependence (Pfeffer and Salancik 1978 ), organizational learning (Cohen and Levinthal 1990 ), resource based views (Penrose 1959 ; Barney 1991 ), agency theory (Jensen and Meckling 1976 ), among others. The influence of a multitude of theories may be due to a lack of a broad theoretical framework which arguably makes the entrepreneurship field “rich in facts but poor in theory” (Koppl 2007 , p. 4). Albeit all the theories are well intertwined in research, a possible debate is whether using other theories (Low and Macmillan 1988 ) diminishes the merits of the field. Gartner ( 2001 ) stated that no single theory can encompass the diversity of objects of study in entrepreneurship.

It may appear surprising that a large number of highly cited (or high impact) articles delve into the domain and raison d’être of entrepreneurship as a field (e.g., Shane and Venkataraman 2000 ; Schildt et al. 2006 ). This debate is relevant since it may shape the future of the discipline. However, examining this pool of works there is an agreement that entrepreneurship pertains to the creation of new firms (e.g., Low and MacMillan 1988 ; Shane and Venkataraman 2000 ; Gartner 2001 ). Nonetheless, some scholars suggest an emphasis on opportunities (identifying, evaluating and exploiting) to define entrepreneurship (Shane 2003 ), and move past the self-employment and firms’ founders paradigms. Thus entrepreneurship research may delve a plethora of issues beyond new venture creation and include other issues such as the growth of existing firms and the role of the Top Management Teams (Shane 2003 ).

We identified the diversity of objects of study (see Fig.  3 ). Confirming Low and MacMillan ( 1988 ) and Ratnatunga and Romano ( 1997 ) the core focus of research seems to reside on the entrepreneur and the environment, but other emphases are distinguishable such as the behavioral aspects of the entrepreneur (McClelland 1961 ; Busenitz and Barney 1997 ), entrepreneurial orientation (Miller 1983 ; Lumpkin and Dess 1996 ) and innovation generating new ventures (Gartner 1985 ). The diversity of objects and subjects in entrepreneurship has led Ratnatunga and Romano ( 1997 ) to compare the field to a “ garbage can ”. It is perhaps worth debating whether such diversity differs markedly from other disciplines.

The field has also been marked by increasing concern with methodological aspects. Low and MacMillan ( 1988 ) claimed for more methodological rigor in entrepreneurship research and Chandler and Lyon ( 2001 ) showed that the discipline evolved from case studies based to growingly using sophisticated statistical techniques. In our analyses, the high citation frequency of Nunnally ( 1978 ) and Eisenhardt ( 1989 ) is probably evidence of the concern with rigor. The methodological concerns, including in statistical techniques, may help move the discipline towards a state of maturity (van Burg et al. 2013 ). Possibly this will entail changes in how data is collected and the types of hypotheses testing possible. For instance, greater rigor will lead to using larger sample sizes, in contrast to qualitative and case-based approaches. Other change may be in incorporating longitudinal assessments (Low and Macmillan 1988 ) such as in examining the evolution of new firms, international expansion, failure and success (Shane 2003 ).

Limitations and additional research avenues

This study has limitations. First, the limitations regarding the bibliometric method itself. We pooled our dataset from Thomson-Reuters ISI Web of Knowledge but while ISI is a good resource, it comprises only a small subset of all existing journals and leaves out other source documents such as books and dissertations. Moreover, we only included a subset of all journals in ISI, which further limits the scope of the analysis especially in an emerging field such as entrepreneurship. An additional limitation is that ISI includes almost exclusively articles written in English which may generate some bias. Hence, while our selection of journals did not seek to be exhaustive of all research, it purports to be representative of the main works that have been done in the field. Future studies may extend the sample to other journals and source documentation.

Other limitation pertains to the use of citation and co-citation data. Relying on citation and co-citation data is well established in bibliometric studies to scrutinize the intellectual structure and knowledge base of a field, but it may tend to favor older, more established, works over new contributions. Some older works have gained the status of “mandatory” references and may be cited for ceremonial reasons. That is, while citation counts are a measure of impact, without an in-depth content analysis we are not able to identify the context in which citations are made. Similarly, co-citation metrics are used to infer conceptual proximity but analyzing the ties says little about the context. Future research can complement our findings with a content analysis of the articles.

Furthermore, using standard citation and co-citation methods does not permit uncovering emerging themes and streams of research. Bibliometric studies scrutinize the extant published research and cannot uncover new trends, emerging topics or future shifts. Nor it is possible to identify works that will likely impact the field in the future. New articles, despite how innovative, tend to have low citation counts, and hence they are not captured in bibliometric analyses that examine the higher impact (higher citation frequencies) works. However, by providing a rear view perspective, bibliometric and scientometric studies are able to expose scholars to systematized presentations of what is known and capable scholars will thus be able to draw insights into what may prove to be largely untapped knowledge areas.

We found that the main sources of knowledge have been based in the US, UK and Canada, with recent increase in Europe, consistent with previous studies (Schildt et al., 2006 ). These have been the core sources of knowledge reside, and may explain, at least in part, a common critique that little is known outside the US and Europe. It is possible that knowledge also develops in an idiosyncratic response to local concerns and trends (Jing et al. 2014 ), and future studies may observe those local specificities. Nevertheless we were unable to identify – both in the themes delved into and in the core references – if there were any specificities to these countries. For instance, perhaps in Asian countries it may prove interesting to delve into the idiosyncratic institutions and their effects on entrepreneurial activity. Conversely, in African countries it may be more interesting the understanding of an array of informal endeavors supporting entrepreneurship.

The legitimation process of the entrepreneurship field is also far from completed. Although there is some work addressing the core concerns of entrepreneurship research (e.g., Low and MacMillan 1988 ) additional insights are still necessary to establish the boundaries of the discipline, namely “what is not entrepreneurship” (Busenitz et al. 2003 , p. 298). We found evidence to support the strong influence of other management disciplines (especially strategic management) on entrepreneurship research. Thus the permeable boundaries of the field hamper the development of entrepreneurship-specific theories and increase the research fragmentation. Therefore establishing the boundaries of the field and developing theories which suit entrepreneurship research is a broad avenue of enquiry.

Conclusions

As a field develops scholars often feel the need to pause and make sense of the accumulated knowledge to truly understand the state of the art of the field and its progress. We followed this concern in our review of the literature. However, these are also opportunities to detect gaps, uncover areas that have been less explored, and devise a research agenda for future work. For practitioners this study also has value namely in providing a swift overview of the field and pointing the fundamental works worth reading.

A final remark to observe that albeit the questioning of whether entrepreneurship has a standing base to become a fully-fledged discipline, it is becoming evident that there a number of phenomena benefit from an entrepreneurial lens. Moreover, as the field progresses novel conceptual approaches and theories are likely to emerge to tighten the domain in a well bounded discipline.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the support of the ESTG - Instituto Politécnico de Leiria for conducting this research.

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Ferreira, M.P., Reis, N.R. & Miranda, R. Thirty years of entrepreneurship research published in top journals: analysis of citations, co-citations and themes. J Glob Entrepr Res 5 , 17 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40497-015-0035-6

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4 Work-Life Balance Tips for Busy Parents of College-Bound Students Getting into college is a journey for students and parents alike. Here's how you can ensure that you're involved while still keeping your mental peace and family ties intact.

By Mary Banks Edited by Micah Zimmerman Aug 13, 2024

Key Takeaways

• Balancing your work with helping your teens prepare for college will be challenging, but as entrepreneurs or professionals in demanding fields, we're no strangers to challenges.
• Strive for more good days, recognize the significance of this milestone, delegate to trusted experts, and recalibrate often.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

As parents , we are deeply invested in our child's future-college journey. We want to ensure they receive the right support and motivation from us and care about their success.

When planning for college, things can get busy and, often, overwhelming. I frequently talk to parents who are burnt out managing their work lives, personal lives and their child's college application process.

However, with the right planning, it doesn't need to be this way. Here are four tips from my experience that can help you lead your child toward college success without compromising everything else in your life.

1. Understand the invaluable nature of family time

First, before you can begin taking the necessary steps to create more balance in your life, it's crucial to understand the difference between your family and work. While work time can be quantified financially, family time holds irreplaceable value.

Your teen's high school years are fleeting, and soon, they'll be off to college, only visiting during holidays or when they need their laundry done. Cherish these moments and make the most of your time with them. Applying to college is a huge milestone in their lives and a gateway to their adult life, so you certainly want to prioritize it.

These moments, daily dinners, or short trips will allow you to not only discuss college planning but also observe your child's interests and core skills — something that must be authentically represented in their college applications.

Related: Coaching and Parenting Have Similar Goals But It's a Big Mistake to Do Them the Same Way

2. Make college application support a non-negotiable

In the business world, structured scheduling is paramount to success, and the same principle applies to balancing your work and personal life. Set specific dates and times for both work and personal activities and stick to them. This includes blocking off time for family, not just work. For parents of college-bound teens, this means scheduling dedicated time to help with their college applications. Work with your teen to set realistic goals.

Fortunately, they can typically take charge for the most part but you should be there for the big decisions and support. For instance, you can have them research college options and then set aside an hour after dinner to review these together. The following week, go through admission requirements and tackle each component in subsequent weeks.

Put everything on your calendar to avoid the chaos of arbitrary deadlines . The key is to start early and tackle each component slowly so that you don't miss out on too much work.

During this dedicated time for college applications, it's important you also eliminate all distractions. No phone calls or emails — even if this means keeping your phone in a separate room to break the habit we have of checking every notification. Being fully present to help your child or simply listen to them should be a priority. Prioritize these interactions with the same importance as your professional commitments. This approach will strengthen your relationship with your teen and ensure they feel valued and supported through this overwhelming journey.

3. Delegate and leverage others

As a leader or entrepreneur, you know how effective delegation is crucial in managing your workload. This principle of delegation should extend beyond your professional sphere. When it comes to the college application process, consider leveraging the expertise of experienced admissions counselors.

These professionals, like those at Quad Education , can take on the heavy lifting, making the process less stressful for you and your teen. If you're feeling a bit out of your depth helping your teen get into schools like Harvard and Stanford, having counselors who've been on those admissions committees can take the pressure off through their first-hand expertise.

This way, you can stay involved in the process without getting bogged down by the technical elements. You can focus on offering emotional support and guidance while the experts handle the intricacies of essay writing, extracurricular profile building and interview preparation. Dividing and conquering this way is a win-win: your teen gets the best possible support, and you have more time to dedicate to your work without sacrificing family obligations.

Related: 3 Signs You Have Succumbed to Helicopter Management

4. Carve out time for personal hobbies

Helping your teen with college applications can stir up a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand, you might face the stress of wanting your child to succeed and get into their dream school. On the other, there's the bittersweet realization that your teen is growing up and becoming more independent. These feelings can be overwhelming, especially when added to an already busy work schedule. That's why it's crucial to carve out time for yourself to process these emotions. Personal hobbies and activities are vital for stress relief and overall well-being. Whether it's playing a sport, pursuing a creative hobby or simply reading a book, ensure that personal time is part of your weekly routine. Even if it seems impossible to do, make it a non-negotiable at least once a week. This will allow you to be more present and engaged as you help your teen through this journey without letting your own emotions get in the way.

Related: 6 Strategies for Success as a Parent Entrepreneur

As I discuss the balance of work and life, or more fittingly, work and family in our lives, it's important to remember that balance is always lost and gained back. As an entrepreneur , I've come to understand that accepting this ebb and flow is crucial. Some days, you might feel overwhelmed while everything falls perfectly into place on others.

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

Director of Admissions Consulting, Quad Education Group

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

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